In the United States, interracial marriage became fully legal nationwide in 1967 , after the Supreme Court’s decision in Loving v. Virginia struck down state laws banning interracial marriage as unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Quick Scoop: Key Facts

  • Nationwide legalization date: June 12, 1967 (Loving v. Virginia decision).
  • Before 1967, many states (especially in the South) still enforced “anti-miscegenation” laws that banned marriages between people of different races.
  • The Court held that banning interracial marriage violated the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment, affirming marriage as a fundamental right.
  • After Loving , interracial marriage was legal in all 50 states , even where old state laws were still on the books.

A Bit of Background

For most of U.S. history, many states enforced anti-miscegenation laws that criminalized marriage (and often cohabitation) between people classified as different races, especially between white people and Black people. These laws helped uphold a racial hierarchy and segregation long after slavery ended.

Some states repealed these laws in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while others maintained them into the 1960s. By the mid‑1960s, interracial couples could marry in some states but be arrested or have their marriages voided in others if they crossed state lines.

The Loving v. Virginia Case

Richard Loving, a white man, and Mildred Jeter Loving, a Black woman, married in Washington, D.C., in 1958 because their home state of Virginia banned interracial marriage. When they returned to Virginia, they were arrested and eventually sentenced under Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, on the condition that they leave the state.

Their challenge reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a unanimous ruling on June 12, 1967. The Court declared that laws banning interracial marriage were unconstitutional, stating that the freedom to marry a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the state.

In effect, Loving v. Virginia didn’t just help one couple; it invalidated anti‑miscegenation laws still in force in more than a dozen states, making interracial marriage legal nationwide as of 1967.

Later Developments and Protection

While Loving v. Virginia established the constitutional right to interracial marriage in 1967, later federal law added an extra layer of protection. Since 2022, the Respect for Marriage Act has explicitly protected both interracial and same‑sex marriages at the federal level, requiring states to recognize valid marriages performed elsewhere.

TL;DR: Interracial marriage was fully legalized across the United States on June 12, 1967 , by the Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision, which struck down state bans as unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment.

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