Using Photographs to Teach Social Justice: Legal Action: The Supreme Court

Objectives

Activities will help students:

• recognize how people’s experiences are shaped, in part, by their membership in groups defined by race, gender, socioeconomic status, culture, ethnicity and ability
• recognize how people’s experiences are shaped, in part, by the historical moment and the society in which they live
• understand the importance of the context in which a photograph was taken

Essential Questions

• What was the Loving v. Virginia case?
• How does the historical context in which a photograph was taken and in which it is viewed shape a viewer’s understanding of that photograph?
• How does Loving v. Virginia relate to current struggles for legal equality?

Introduction

A variety of methods have been used to gain legal equality for African Americans. Three amendments to the Constitution after the Civil War (the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments) eliminated slavery, made former slaves citizens and granted them voting rights. Federal laws also contributed to legal equality. The Voting Rights Act of 1965, for example, outlawed poll taxes, literacy tests and grandfather clauses—all methods that had been used to deny African Americans their right to vote. Activists also questioned the constitutionality of some laws, and the resulting court rulings—such as Brown v. Board of Education—helped put an end to legal segregation.

This lesson focuses on another legal case: Loving v. Virginia. Although it is not as well known as Brown v. Board of Education, it was an important ruling with far-reaching effects. In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled that laws that prohibited marriages between African Americans and white Americans were in violation of the Constitution. In this lesson, students analyze a photograph of Mildred Jeter Loving and Richard Loving—the interracial couple that took the case of their marriage all the way to the Supreme Court—as a springboard for exploring the case, and for thinking about analogous issues today.

Activities

1. Form a group of four. With your group, look at this photograph. What do you see?

a. Describe the people in the photo. What do you notice about them?

b. Do the people seem happy? What kind of relationship do you think exists between them? What makes you think so?

c. What do you notice about the setting in which the photo was taken?

d. Based on what you see, when do you think this photograph was taken? (You don’t need to guess the exact year; identifying the decade is close enough.) Why do you think so?

With your group, use the answers to the questions above to predict what makes this photograph significant.

2. The people in the photo are Mildred Jeter Loving and Richard Loving. The photograph was taken in 1967, after the Supreme Court ruled that their marriage was legal, overturning laws in Virginia and 15 other states that made it illegal for African Americans and white Americans to marry each other. The Court stated that the only reason that Virginia had outlawed the Lovings’ marriage was to “maintain White Supremacy,” which violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. To learn more about the Lovings’ case, read this excerpt [2] from the Court’s ruling and answer the questions beside it.

3. Think about the significance of Loving v. Virginia. Write a journal entry addressing these questions:

a. Had you heard of the case before? If so, what did you know about it?

b. What, if anything, surprised you about the case?

c. Do you know any couples that are interracial?

d. Would this photograph be newsworthy in your community today? Why or why not?

4. Another group today is fighting for the right to be legally married. What do you know about the movement to make it legal for same-sex couples to marry? You can read about it on the Web site of Marriage Equality USA [3]. (Note: You can assign different students to read different parts of the site; or if you prefer, have them focus on these pages: Get the Facts [4], Marriage Equality in the Courts [5] and Real People, Real Impact [6].) Go around the classroom and have each student share something that he or she learned about the struggle for marriage equality.

5. Look again at the Loving v. Virginia [2] court decision [2].

a. This time when you read it, switch out the references to interracial couples and replace them with references to same-sex couples, and replace references to racial discrimination with references to discrimination based on sexual orientation. After each switch, take a few moments to reflect, ask questions or share thoughts.

b. When you have finished reading the decision, go back to your journal and write an entry that addresses these questions:

i. Do you think the right to marry should be guaranteed to all Americans, regardless of race or sexual orientation?

ii. Why do you think so? What questions or concerns do you have?

iii. Include in your entry a photograph of a same-sex couple that compares to the photo of the Lovings.