Loving v. Virginia was a Supreme Court case that overturned the conviction of Mildred and Richard Loving in 1967. Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving exchanged wedding vows in 1958 in Washington, D.C. where interracial marriage was legal. Upon returning to Virginia, and only weeks after their marriage, they were arrested and indicted on charges of violating Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act of 1924. Under this anti-miscegenation law, their union was deemed a felony.

Loving v. Virginia is a monumental moment in the history of racial equality in the United States, yet it has a very humble beginning in the town of Central Point in Caroline County, Virginia where Mildred and Richard lived. By the spring of 2025, Virginia Opera and the Richmond Symphony plan to bring this important story to life with a newly commissioned opera written by composer Damien Geter and librettist Jessica Murphy Moo, and directed by Denyce Graves.