Changes

In the United States, anti-miscegenation laws existed from the colonial era through the 20th century, and they are bookended by two Virginia pieces of legislation: Virginia’s 1691 anti-miscegenation law, and Loving v. Virginia (1967).

Even though the U.S. Supreme Court declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, some states were slow to drop them, and some counties even refused to grant marriage licenses to interracial couples. It took approximately a decade for the implications of the Loving case to make their way through the United States. For all intents and purposes, it wasn’t until 2000 that Alabama actually removed its anti-miscegenation law from its books.