We noted this book back in July, when we posted Timothy Huebner's Spring 2014 round-up of
New Books in U.S. Constitutional/Legal History, but now it is officially out:
Race, Sex, and the Freedom to Marry: Loving v. Virginia (University Press of Kansas), by
Peter Wallenstein (Virginia Tech). The book is part of the Landmark Law Cases and American Society series. A description from the Press:
In 1958 Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving, two young lovers from
Caroline County, Virginia, got married. Soon they were hauled out of
their bedroom in the middle of the night and taken to jail. Their crime?
Loving was white, Jeter was not, and in Virginia—as in twenty-three
other states then—interracial marriage was illegal. Their experience
reflected that of countless couples across America since colonial times.
And in challenging the laws against their marriage, the Lovings closed
the book on that very long chapter in the nation’s history. Race, Sex, and the Freedom to Marry tells the story of this couple and the case that forever changed the law of race and marriage in America.
The story of the Lovings and the case they took to the
Supreme Court involved a community, an extended family, and in
particular five main characters—the couple, two young attorneys, and a
crusty local judge who twice presided over their case—as well as such
key dimensions of political and cultural life as race, gender, religion,
law, identity, and family. In Race, Sex, and the Freedom to Marry,
Peter Wallenstein brings these characters and their legal travails to
life, and situates them within the wider context—even at the center—of
American history. Along the way, he untangles the arbitrary distinctions
that long sorted out Americans by racial identity—distinctions that
changed over time, varied across space, and could extend the reach of
criminal law into the most remote community. In light of the related
legal arguments and historical development, moreover, Wallenstein
compares interracial and same-sex marriage.
A fair amount is known about the saga of the Lovings and
the historic court decision that permitted them to be married and remain
free. And some of what is known, Wallenstein tells us, is actually
true. A detailed, in-depth account of the case, as compelling for its
legal and historical insights as for its human drama, this book at long
last clarifies the events and the personalities that reconfigured race,
marriage, and law in America.
A few blurbs:
“A superb work by a proven scholar tracks the
intertwining histories of race, gender, law, and religion; it
masterfully revisions America’s past and presents through the window of
the Loving story, a saga of race and marriage.”—Arica L. Coleman
“Placing the Loving drama in historical context,
Wallenstein masterfully guides the reader through the Lovings’ state and
federal court battle. Further, he examines how same-sex couples use the
Loving precedent to afford them the right to marry as well. A readable, detailed, and valuable addition to the Loving history.”—Charles Robinson
More information is available
here.
