As part of the Created Equal film series, the Litchfield Historical Society, in partnership with the Torrington Historical Society and the Litchfield County League of Women Voters, will screen clips from The Loving Story on Thursday, February 20 at 7:00 pm at the Torrington Historical Society.
The Loving Story explores the tale of Richard and Mildred Loving and their marriage that led to a landmark civil rights decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. Richard, a white man, and Mildred, a black woman, violated Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act that prohibited interracial marriages. As a result, the couple spent a year in prison. In 1967, after a nine year fight, the Lovings’ case made it to the Supreme Court, where the justices overturned Virginia’s laws in a unanimous decision. The documentary brings the story to life with interviews and photographs taken for Life magazine.
The film clips will be supplemented by a discussion led by lawyer and former UConn legal history professor Tom Hogan.
Created Equal: America’s Civil Rights Struggle is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities that uses the power of documentary films to encourage community discussion of America’s civil rights history. NEH has partnered with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History to develop programmatic and support materials for the sites. The Litchfield Historical Society is one of 473 institutions across the country awarded a set of three films chronicling the history of the civil rights movement. The film series continues on March 20 with Freedom Riders at the Litchfield Historical Society. Each film is available on the Litchfield Historical Society’s website to view before each formal program led by local humanities scholar.
The Litchfield County League of Women Voters will show the full film will be shown at Brandywine Senior Living, 19 Constitution Way, Litchfield, on Wednesday, February 12 at 7:00 pm.
This program is free and open to the public, though registration is required. To register, please call the Litchfield Historical Society at (860) 567-4501 or email registration@litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.
The Torrington Historical Society is located at 192 Main St., Torrington, CT. For more information about this or other programs, please see this website at www.litchfieldhistoricalsociety.org.