Mr. and Mrs. Loving (1996) - full transcript
A moving and uplifting drama about the effects of interracial marriage in the 1960s. Friends since childhood, and loved by both families, this couple are exiled after their wedding and have to wage a courageous battle to find their place in America as a loving family.
♪♪
How do?
How do, there do.
Richie!
Hey, Mrs. Jeter.
Ow, that's hot!
Take that on up to the barn,
will you?
[laughing]
[indistinct chatter]
Good to see you.
[lighter clicks]
♪♪ [Roy Milton's
"Milton's Boogie" playing]
♪ That's all right, baby
♪ That's all right for you
♪♪
♪ That's all right, baby
♪ That's all right for you
Yeah, yeah!
We gonna have a wang-dang-doodle
tonight!
Hey, Mr. Jeter!
How you doin', man?
[indistinct chatter]
Mmm! Mm-mm.
♪♪
What you feelin', girl?
[indistinct chatter]
Hey, boy, where you been?
I was out back.
Look here.
Whoa, Norma!
[laughing] Hey, Richard!
Go ahead on.
Nah, you were here first.
Go on.
No, no.
[laughing] No.
Oh!
[shrieks]
Yeah, come on, y'all.
[indistinct chatter]
Look at you.
Ain't you something?
[indistinct chatter]
Whoo!
Yay! Aah ha ha!
Whoo!
♪ Yes, I know
♪♪
♪ Baby, baby
♪ What's the matter now
♪ Baby, baby
♪ What's the matter now
Bean?
That you, bean?
Yeah.
Say what?
Yeah, it's me.
Hey, Joe!
What happened to String Bean
here?
That be nature, man.
[laughing]
♪ That's all right for you
♪♪
♪ That's all right, mama
♪ Most any old way you do
♪♪
♪ Got wings like a devil
♪ Shaped like a frog
♪ But when she starts lovin'
♪ Holler, "Ooh, hot dog"
♪ I love my baby
♪ Better than I love myself
♪♪
♪ Come to find out baby's
♪ In love with someone...
[car engines rev]
[applause]
[tires screeching]
[track announcer] Driven by
Richard Loving from over in
Caroline county.
And the black...
[crowd cheering]
... put 12,000 man hours' work
into her.
And the starter is ready.
[engines revving]
[tires screeching]
Go, Richard!
Go, Richard!
Now!
Go! Go!
[all cheering]
Hyah!
Aaaah!
Richard!
[laughing]
All right!
[engine humming]
[cheers and applause]
Beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful.
Thing of beauty, thing of
beauty, man.
That was great, man.
You shifted at just the right
minute, man, I mean it.
Everything held up good.
That was some sweet shifting,
boy, I taught you well.
I'll tell you the truth.
Motor looks good, too.
Motor looks real good.
Whew!
Boy, you know you came in under
ten seconds.
Load of plywood going out at
6:00 a.m. tomorrow.
Uh...
Yeah, I'll be there.
[snickers]
[sighs]
What Bean say was you got top
eliminator over there.
Well, we was lucky.
Try this here, Richard.
Your mama make spoon bread?
Lucky, hell-- Leonard said
you beat that guy like he was
standin' still!
You get a trophy for that,
Richard?
Give him some tea, Norma.
You want some tea, honey?
Of course he gets a trophy.
Girl, you born slow or
something?
Mama!
Gerald.
Hush, hush, now-- say she
could feel that noise right down
to the bone.
Can I come over and see it
sometime, Richard?
Nobody around here ever won
nothin'.
[slams pitcher down]
My, my, my, ain't you
something tonight, honey girl?
Bean, that's my dress.
Oh, yeah, but it be workin'
on her.
[laughter]
Pa!
Now, everybody hush, now.
Richard, I want you to have her
back at 10:00.
Mama!
[all] Mama!
Well, 11:00, then.
No drinking, no driving fast,
and no you-know-what.
Well, no driving fast, I
ain't going.
[laughter]
That boy is something else,
ain't he?
♪♪ [faint music on radio]
Grape Tru-Ade?
Damn, girl, you sure that ain't
too strong?
I like grape.
Hey, Dexter, I can't find me
no grape soda in here!
My girl says if I can't come up
with one, she's gonna walk home
on-- ohh, ohh!
Help! Help!
Hey, it's got me!
Hey, it's got me!
Ohh! Whoop.
Never mind, never mind,
never mind.
This what you want?
Yeah.
Oh! Oh, no, okay.
All right.
Oh! Well, no, this--
Okay.
[both shouting indistinctly]
Ohh!
[laughter]
Whoo whoo! Hoo!
Whoo! Whoo!
[laughing]
I'll give it to you.
I'll give it to you.
You gotta give me something
first, though.
A nickel.
No, not a nickel.
A kiss.
[chuckles]
Not here.
No? Where?
I don't know.
I do.
[whispers] Come on.
[motor rumbling]
[Santo & Johnny's "Sleep Walk"]
♪♪
Old Civil War road is what
they is.
All in through here.
Yeah.
I been on every one of 'em, I
guess.
My dad let me drive his '39
Plymouth, I'd... sit up on a
Sears catalog.
[both chuckle]
Drivin' around.
What?
Mmm!
[both groaning softly]
I ain't supposed to be doing
this.
Mmm.
I ain't supposed to.
[breathing hard]
Ohh!
Oh, Richie.
Mmm... mmm.
[both moaning]
He measure up from the floor,
and he say, "Adeline, your skirt
two inches too short."
Meantime, he catching a look
right up to heaven there.
I seen him!
I was standing one over.
He had us all lined up like we
was criminals.
Me and Richie doing it.
What?
Me and Richie, we doing it.
Tell me.
Lord have mercy, tell!
Tell me, tell me!
Well, there's this dirt road
he knows about.
And there's this real nice
place, and sometimes we go down
there, and he lays a blanket
out, and sometimes we stay in
the car.
And sometimes, we turn the radio
on and... we do it.
Since when?
Since a while.
How many times?
A night? Or...
A night?!
Okay.
Yeah, sure.
How many times a night?
Well, we done it six times,
once.
Six?!
Shh...
[whispering] Six times in one
night?
[laughing] What is he, off a
spaceship?
[both laughing]
Mama kill you both.
Norma, you ain't gonna tell
her, is you?
Nah.
Promise?
I ain't gonna tell her, Bean,
jeez.
But did you like it?
Yeah.
A lot.
[both laugh]
[engine snarling]
Aaah!
[both laughing]
Let's go again.
Wanna go again?
[giggling]
You ready?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Richard, you looking at me.
You said you wasn't gonna look
at me.
Richard!
Huh?
I can't help it.
You're so beautiful.
♪♪
[corn rustling]
[sighs]
Richard...
Bean!
What are you doing out here?
How long you been out here?
A while.
Come here.
What's the matter?
Huh?
Well, you been out here all
night, you're not gonna tell me
what's the matter?
I...
Well, uh, just hang on, okay?
I gotta-- I just gotta go.
I-I'll just be a minute.
Go on.
Huh? Just-- just--
just a minute.
[sniffles]
Gah!
I'm gonna have a baby.
[thudding]
[door creaks]
You mind?
No.
You?
No.
[sighs]
You wanna come in for
breakfast?
[grunts]
Say what?
You can't marry her.
Yeah, I can.
No, shut up!
She's colored, and you ain't.
The end.
No, it ain't the end.
It's against the law, son.
Don't you know that?
Don't Bean know?
She, uh...
I'll just find a church up in
D.C.
What are you talking about?
When's the last time you seen a
white man marry a colored in
Caroline County?
I don't know.
Look at the Broward clan, or the
McNaughtons-- I mean, hell,
they're every color of the
rainbow.
Okay, well, answer me two
questions.
Number one: where do all them
folks live at?
Aw, come on.
I know where they're from.
Pretend I'm from New York
City, okay?
They're from Central Point.
Central Point.
Where nobody comes and nobody
goes, and nobody sure as hell
cares...
and white men been slippin' in
colored beds ever since there
was a white man.
But you tell me...
question number two.
You ever seen any of 'em get
married?
One?
Ever?
It's the right thing to do.
[clock ticking softly]
It... just ain't somethin'
that-- that you do.
Trouble!
Trouble's what I see!
Trouble coming down on us!
How many times I gotta tell
you, honey girl, you gotta stop
and think before you just jump
in like that!
See, Leonard say y'all
can't get married up here
anyways.
Ain't nobody gonna do--
I ain't sayin' nothin' about
you love him or you don't love
him-- now, that's your business.
Course, what you know about
love, I can put in a tiny little
teaspoon.
You tell 'em, Mom.
You children don't know
nothin' about no trouble.
Your lives been too easy up
here.
That's right.
And don't think that I
fault Richard just because you
ain't got the sense that you was
born with.
She just too good-looking.
That's the problem, since she
started filling out--
Mama!
It ain't her fault, Mama.
I know that, but... listen,
what we doin' is we asking you
to just both stop and listen
because it just--
Yeah, listen!
Because we been out there.
That's right.
We seen it!
Uh-huh.
And it just ain't--
It ain't--
It ain't something that you
do!
[all] That's right.
That's the truth-- it ain't
something you do.
Yeah.
Oh, babies.
♪♪
[buzzing]
Uh, come on in.
Hey, Buster, get yourself a
partner, come on!
Why ain't you dancin'?
♪♪
Here you are.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah, so I go across the
bridge, looked him up in the
phone book, the whole thing was
over and done in five minutes.
Oh, it was incredible.
His wife was there.
Between you and I, it looked
like she had a carrot stuck
you-know-where.
[laughter]
But the whole trip, it was under
three hours.
Mmm!
You know that flat part, just
before the bridge?
You know, just right up there?
I had her going up to 80 miles
an hour.
No vibration, nothin'.
All the time, all the time.
Means you be quittin' that
high school, don't it?
Yeah, I-- I guess.
Richard say where he want to
live?
He didn't say nothin'.
Well, there ain't enough room
in his place, not unless y'all
want to sleep in bed with his
mama and daddy.
[silverware clinks]
You tell him, don't ask him,
honey girl.
Okay? 'Cause you gotta learn
to come on out and say what you
want.
Now, you just tell him that
you're coming here to live, and
that's the way it is.
Oh, baby, you stay with me,
okay?
Till you grow into that body of
yours.
[laughing]
Mama...
Well.
Thank you.
[music ends]
[indistinct chatter]
♪ Love, oh, love
♪ Oh, precious love
♪ Mm-mm-mm
[both] ♪ Love, oh, love
♪ Oh, precious love
Come on, Pa.
[all] ♪ Love, oh, love
♪ Oh, love
[all] ♪ Oh, precious love
♪ Precious love
[all] ♪ Look what
♪ Precious love
♪ Has done for me
Come on, Bean and Richard.
Come on, it's your dance.
[all] ♪ If I could sing
♪ Like a morning dove
♪ Like a morning dove
[all] ♪ If I could sing
♪ Like a morning dove
♪ Morning dove
[all] ♪ If I could sing
♪ Like a morning dove
♪ I'd sing for everyone
♪ In love
♪ Everyone in love
♪ I'd sing for everyone
♪ In love ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪♪ [lively fiddle music]
Hold on, now!
[loud thud]
[grunts]
What?
Who's the woman you're
sleeping with, son?
What?
I'm his wife.
Not here, you ain't.
Let's go.
♪♪
[handcuffs clinking]
♪♪
Mama, do I have to go?
[crying] Oh, baby.
[sobbing]
[whispering] Richard.
Richard.
Yeah, I'm here.
What do we do?
[sighs]
[door clattering]
[keys clinking]
Come here, boy.
Let's go.
They lettin' us out?
Where you going?
Here, son.
Here's your papers.
Now go on home and behave now,
you hear?
Go on!
What about her?
Come on, son, let's go.
Upstairs.
Be a good man.
Richard!
Richard!
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[man coughs]
... that door over there, and
he's gonna sit down.
And what he'll say is,
"Defendants rise," and you two
are gonna stand up, and I'm
gonna stand up with y'all.
And I'll be right there next to
you.
Now, what I want you to do is
look straight ahead, look him
right in the eye, and don't look
at each other.
I don't want you to act...
married.
What I want him to see is two
young people standing there
separate, with their whole lives
in front of them.
Are you listening to me?
Be upstanding in court.
Defendants rise.
On the count of
Miscegenation, I find defendant
Richard Perry Loving and
defendant Mildred Dolores Jeter
guilty as charged.
[all gasping]
To be remanded to the state
penitentiary system for a time
of not less than one nor more
than three years.
No!
However...
I'm gonna go ahead and suspend
the sentences... provided both
defendants leave Caroline County
and the state of Virginia...
forthwith, and do not return
to said state and county
together for 25 years.
[all gasp and murmur]
Almighty God created the races.
White, black, yellow, Malay, and
red.
And he placed them on separate
continents.
And but for the interference
with his arrangement, there
would be no cause for such
marriages.
The fact that he separated the
races shows that he did not
intend for the races to mix.
Case closed!
No!
[courtroom murmuring]
[sighs]
Richard.
Take care of her, you hear?
Or so help me, I'll get out my
bird gun and I'll come find you.
[indistinct chatter]
I'll see you Sunday up at
Colonial Park.
Ain't no God damn law against me
coming back alone.
No, sir.
Nothing's changed.
Nothing's changed.
[car horn honks]
Told you this'd happen.
[car engine revving]
Bye, Ma.
[car door squeaks]
[engine starts]
Call soon as you get there,
all right?
[crow caws]
I didn't tell you.
It's okay.
No...
I thought if we went and got
married up in DC, nobody would
care, you know?
It's okay.
They wouldn't bother to come
after two people like us.
It's okay.
I'm sorry, babe.
♪♪
Go on.
Bean...
No... you go on.
[children laughing]
Come on, you gotta see.
It's... more than we hoped for.
It's too much money, but it's--
They got a toilet right next to
the bedroom.
It's pink.
Pink!
Well--
This is a restricted
building, Mr., uh...
Do you know what that means?
Well, it means that you can't
rent an apartment here if
you're, if--
if she's with you.
You're just looking in the wrong
part of town, that's all.
I'm just telling you for your
own good, so you don't go off
and put somebody else through
this, okay?
Why don't you go over and look
someplace like Shaw?
Shaw, can you remember that?
It's a whole lot cheaper there,
too.
You go and, uh, tell your...
My wife.
Whatever you think best.
I won't say anything.
Come on, too much money.
♪♪
[children playing]
[Richard sighs]
That the last one?
It's better than the last ten we
seen.
Another paper come out
tomorrow.
You wanna sleep in the car
again tonight?
Why can't we just go back to
the first one we seen?
I mean, one room'll do for
now.
By the time the baby come,
you'll have work.
We can get a one-bedroom, and
the park is just right across
the street.
All I gotta do is walk the baby
across the street.
I don't need a car or nothin'.
They won't have you, Bean.
Don't you understand that?
They won't have you.
I mean, why do you think these
people live here?
You think they want to live
here?
Who the hell'd want to live in
this place?
God damn son of a bitch!
[indistinct street chatter]
[brush scrubbing]
[water trickling]
How'd you do?
[sighs] I don't know.
I went clear into Maryland.
Nobody's hiring.
Place looks good, babe.
[water sloshing]
Got a race up at Colonial.
Listen to your radio shows,
okay?
I won't be late.
Say hey to Leonard for me.
All right, will do.
[car driving by]
♪♪ [radio playing R&B]
[car horn honking]
[street chatter]
Hey, bro, good to see you,
man!
Wondered when you was back in
town.
That's mine!
Excuse me one second.
Yeah, sure.
All right.
Later.
Howdy.
Hey there, I'm Blue.
Hey.
Blue Conklin.
His name's Irving, honey.
Least that's what his mama call
him when he-- he come out.
The ugliest baby born that year,
as I recall.
[laughter]
And don't you go giving him
another minute of your precious
life, darling.
It's almost 2:00-- ain't you
forgetting about your TV
stories there, Sophia?
Sophia's the name.
He got that part right.
And this here is the Wilder
sisters-- Leeanne and Marcella.
Oh, I guess, uh, her mama
and daddy didn't give her no
no name at all.
Oh! Um...
I'm Mildred.
Mildred Jeter.
Loving.
Mmm... Loving.
Shut up.
You ever had your hair done,
sugar?
They's hairdressers, both of
'em.
Out-of-work hairdressers.
Oh, and you ain't?
Oh, I work-- you know good
and damn well I work, girl.
"Slick"...
S.C.L.C.
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
That's Martin Luther King's
people.
Mm-hmm.
[Wilders] Martin Luther King.
You heard of the King.
You do know what the Civil
Rights Movement is?
I ain't sure.
Well, I bet you know what
black and white together is!
[laughter]
Oh, you mean Richard?
Mm-hmm.
Oh, well, he ain't-- I mean,
he's just Richard, that's all.
I knowed him all my life.
His best friend, Leonard
Johnson, he's a colored man.
Negro.
That's right.
He's darker than me.
See, back where I come from,
in Central Point, there's white
and there's colored right next
to one another.
Always been, all my life.
That's the way it is.
On the moon, that's the way
it is, girl.
No, that's the way it is.
Well, it ain't here.
Mm, sure ain't.
Here, you live in Shaw.
And your skin is black.
And that's the way it is.
[Wilders] Mm-hmm.
Don't think about going down
to Georgetown.
It don't matter if you got the
money for one of the
restaurants.
You go down there, and them cops
are gonna come down on you.
And that's the way it is.
You wanna know what my job is?
I'll tell you: I walk into a
luncheon counter, and I sit in
the whites-only section, and I
sit in the front of the bus,
and I even go down... to
Virginia, and I piss in a toilet
that don't say "colored."
Right in, right in.
Now, I ain't never heard of
no Central Point, and I'm having
a hard time believing that there
is a place where whites and
Negro, don't make no difference.
But you here now.
You gotta look around and open
your eyes, heh, and recognize,
heh, the eeevil...
I say, the...
[all] Eeevil...
... that lies, heh, before
you, heh.
You gotta fight, heh, for your
right, heh.
You gotta fight, heh, for your
life, heh.
You gotta fight, heh, like, we
all doin', heh.
♪ You and you and you and you
You all gotta fight.
And, girl...
your face...
a bottom like yours...
you got half the damn battle...
licked.
[Wilders laugh]
All right, Irving.
That'll do with that.
[bell jingling]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter and chatter]
Ooh, Sophia, I ain't had
chicken this good since my mama
used to...
[indistinct chatter]
Hey, Richard!
How'd you do?
Come over here, I want you to
meet my friends.
This is Sophia and Leeanne and
Marcella and Blue.
They come over here after you
left.
Mi-Mildred says you racing
cars today.
Yes, ma'am, yeah.
Excuse me.
Talk to my wife.
Bean.
He must have lost.
I wanna thank y'all.
Richard--
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Now, grab that chair right
there.
Go on, go on-- grab that chair.
Just bring it right over here.
Just right about there.
Give me that piece of chicken.
Now, you sit down.
Ask me how I done at the races
today.
Richard--
No, go on, ask me how I done
at the races.
How did you do at the races?
I got a job.
A job!
That's right, ain't no
joyride down there, Bean.
I'm telling you, I got
connections, and one of 'em,
Thad Harper-- he's the old guy
that drives the Twister, right?
Uh-huh.
Well, he come up to me and
says, "Heard about y'all's move.
And I know how hard a place DC
can be and-- you know, he lives
here, right?
And he says, "You looking for
work, I got it."
Now, I don't say nothin', you
know.
I'm too proud, right?
But Leonard, he don't care, so
he says, "Damn right the boy
needs work.
He got a baby on the way and
everything."
So That hires me right there,
boom, just like that.
[gasps]
Well, what kind of job?
The kind that pays a buck 25
an hour.
That's 50 bucks a week, 200 a
month, Bean-- we're rich.
I'm telling you, we're gonna
make it here.
Oh, Richard!
Whoa, hold on, hold on.
Um, um, you just...
Oh, stay right there.
A TV!
Ohh, my Lord!
Yeah, now go on, sit down,
right there.
A TV!
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
There we go.
Oh, oh, oh, uh...
You don't wanna touch it.
Just...
Oh.
Uh, fix the static.
There we go.
Yeah.
It's not a new TV.
♪♪ [orchestral music]
[woman on TV] I love you,
too, but... it scares me.
♪♪
But it is a wonderful feeling.
It's wonderful you're here.
And I can hold you, I can--
I can see you.
And I can hold you next to me.
Oh, Angela, if I could only tell
you how much I love you.
If I could only tell you all.
Tell mama.
Tell mama all.
♪♪
[crickets chirping]
Sophia... it's time.
We goin' to the hospital now.
[dog barking]
I just want her to know we was
leaving.
[groans]
Good luck, honey girl!
Good luck now!
All right.
Happy landings!
[giggles]
Good luck!
Thanks, Sophia.
It's gonna be all right,
dear, it's gonna be all right.
It'll be all right.
[engine starts]
It's gonna be all right!
She's my wife!
She's my God damn wife!
She has the same rights I do!
Sir, listen to me!
No, you'd take me if I was
sick-- take a look at her, God
damn it!
I told you, this is a private
hospital!
It don't matter, she needs
help now!
Freedman's is over on "H"
Street, they'd be happy to take
her there.
No! No, I ain't going to
another God damn hospital!
This is the God damn hospital!
I'm staying right here!
They will be happy to take--
She has the same rights I do!
Stop it! Leave him alone!
The same God damn rights I
do!
Out!
Stop it! Move it!
No, stop!
Come on.
Come on!
You all rot in hell!
[tires screeching]
Oh, Lord God Almighty!
Oh, Richard, hurry up.
[sobbing] Hurry up!
[gasping and groaning]
I think you're in the wrong
hospital!
She's having a baby!
She's bleeding!
She's bleeding... come on.
Oh, Jesus, Lord.
Oh.
Don't you worry about a thing,
baby.
We've got you.
[wailing]
Watch it, we're coming up to
a corner here, baby.
[gasping]
Go to the desk, sir.
Go to the desk.
No, I'm staying right here
with her.
You got to fill out the form,
sir.
Oh, Richard...
Come on, sir, you gotta check
her in.
You're fine, baby.
Come on, she'll be fine.
[indistinct chatter]
[PA] Dr. Kelly, please call
the operator.
[indistinct chatter]
♪♪
[chuckles]
Hold on.
We gonna call your grandma
Jeter.
Girl, go in.
[girls] M-I!
Crooked letter, crooked letter,
"I"!
Crooked letter, crooked letter,
"I"!
Humpback, humpback, "I"!
M-I-S-S...
[overlapping chatter]
[chanting continues]
[line ringing]
[man on phone] Hirams.
Mr. Hiram?
Hi, it's Bean Jeter.
I think my mama's supposed to
be--
Bean, how you doing?
Yeah, she sure is, honey.
Now, don't you go nowheres, now.
Honey girl?
Hey, Mama!
Oh, darling, how are you?
I'm fine, Mama, I'm fine.
Everybody here is good.
Uh, what?
Did you get the pictures I
sent?
Oh, did we!
And that baby, he's just a
wonder!
Ain't he something, Mama?
He's with me right now, sleeping
just like a little angel.
Ohh, heh.
And how are you and Richard
doing?
We're fine, Mama.
We're fine.
Yeah, well, what do you do
with your days then?
I mean, you all alone when
Richard go off?
No, no, no.
I-- I got my friends.
Uh, they're real nice people.
They gettin' me into civil
rights.
What?
You ain't marching, are you,
baby?
No, no, I ain't, Mama.
It's just that...
Negroes gotta stand up, is all.
I mean, we can't let 'em keep us
down forever.
Well, what did Richard say?
Well, he got his, you know,
his-- his car racing and all.
He don't mind that?
Uh... he...
He loves the baby.
Well-- well, all right.
That's good, that's good.
[operator] Deposit 75 cents
for the next three minutes,
please.
No, no, no, no, don't do it.
No, no, Mama, wait.
[coins clinking]
No.
Ma-- hello, hello?
Mama, hello?
I'm here, honey.
I-I don't think you should be
spending your money, though.
No, no, Mama.
I just-- I just wanted to say
good-bye, is all.
Oh...
Sure, okay, then.
Kiss Papa for me?
I'll do that.
Write often, honey.
[crying] Okay, well, um...
I guess it's good-bye.
Uh, honey girl...
Now, you would tell me if you
wasn't okay, wouldn't you?
No, no, Mama, I told you.
We're fine.
We're fine.
It's just that, uh...
Oh, I miss you, is all.
Oh, baby.
Well, all right, um...
I'm gonna go now, Mama.
Okay? Uh... bye, now.
Okay... you take care now,
hear?
Bye.
[click]
[children chattering]
All right.
We won't go too fast.
Okay, next one.
Oh... it's okay.
[on TV] ♪ We shall overcome
♪ We shall overcome
All right, does everybody
like egg salad?
Uh-huh.
Leeanne, you got the ham,
right?
Mm-hmm, got the ham, got the
chicken, got the sandwich
spread.
Okay, what else?
All right, anybody seen King
yet?
No.
Oh, wait a minute.
There he is.
Right there.
Oh...
[laughter]
You don't know.
I do know, Sophia.
Hell, I met the man.
Oh, please, Blue.
Okay, okay, let's just go.
I'm about peeing in my pants
with excitement.
Okay, what about Sidney?
Are you dry, doll baby?
He's dry as a bone, honey.
Just open that little spot.
Richard, where he at?
Richard, come on.
Come on!
[overlapping chatter]
You can see it 1,000 times
better right here.
I mean, look at all them people.
How you gonna get by all those
people?
It don't matter.
It's different, Richard.
Yeah, yeah, you know, it's--
it's worse.
It's Dr. Martin Luther King,
Richard, come on.
Come on, y'all, grab the baby.
Let's go.
We gonna miss the damn
speech.
All right, let's go.
Let's go.
Come on, now, hurry up.
Why don't you go on ahead.
No, it's okay, go.
I gotta work anyway.
This ain't no holiday.
Oh, sure it is, man.
Sure it is.
It's Martin Luther King Day.
Yeah.
[laughter]
Richard...
Go on ahead.
Richard!
Y'all go on.
Oh, no, you gonna come with
us.
Sophia, take Sid, now.
I want him to see Dr. King.
Aw, Bean, come on, you can--
Come on, y'all we're gonna be
late.
I don't understand...
Oh, my goodness.
Come on, girl, let's go.
Be careful.
Martin Luther King: Let us
not wallow in the valley of
despair.
[applause]
So even though we face
the difficulties of today and
tomorrow, I still have a dream.
Woman: Yeah!
It is a dream deeply rooted
in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day...
Woman: Yeah!
...this nation will rise up
and live out the true meaning of
its creed.
We hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are
created equal.
[cheers and applause]
I have a dream that my four
little children will one day
live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of
their skin but by the content of
their character.
I have a dream today!
[cheers and applause]
I have a dream that one day,
one day right there in Alabama
little black boys and black
girls will be able to join hands
with little white boys and white
girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
[cheers and applause]
King: This is our hope.
This is the faith that I go back
to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able
to hew out of the mountain of
despair a stone of hope.
With this faith, we will be able
to work together, to pray
together, to struggle together,
to go to jail together, to stand
up for freedom together, knowing
that we will be free one day.
And when we allow freedom ring,
when we let it ring from every
village and every hamlet, from
every state and every city, we
will be able to speed up that
day when all of God's children,
black men and white men, Jews
and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics will be able to join
hands and sing in the words of
the old Negro spiritual, "Free
at last, free at last.
Thank God Almighty, we are free
at last!"
[cheers and applause]
And we gonna swing on
the monkey bars.
I don't know if you can play in
that sandbox, but we gonna try.
Wait, look, here the mailbox.
You see the mailbox?
Let's mail the letters.
Let's mail the letters!
Okay.
Now, this one is to the electric
company.
Put it in there.
They make the stove work.
This to Grandma Jeter.
[baby cooing]
Yeah, that's mymama.
And this is to Grandma Lovin'.
Mail that.
I want them to know how it went
with Mr. King yesterday.
And here, this one.
One more.
There you go.
That's just...
Nothing.
[approaching footsteps]
[door opens]
Whatcha doin' here?
I been laid off.
Oh, no, why?
I don't know.
You know what I'm guessing?
I'm guessing it's because of
the march.
No.
Oh, they think I went.
But you didn't go.
They think I went.
Richard, you can't tell by
that.
No, I can't, just like I
can't tell who turned us into
the sheriff back home...
if anybody did.
But I do know one thing and that
is that I might have worked.
And we got flat nothin' in
the bank, and they're come down
here the end of the month and
put us out on the goddamn
street.
That I can tell you.
[exhales]
[engine revving]
[tires screeching]
Man.
I mean, it's what you do, son.
Hell, I can't drive her.
You can drive her.
Not like you.
No, sir.
Look, if you just need a loan--
No loan.
No.
Damn.
I figure, uh, half the car
and all the work we put in and
all-- right around $2,000.
Probably more.
I don't need it all now.
I ain't got it all now.
You sure you gotta do this?
Yeah.
[tires screeching]
[engine revving]
[engine revving]
[tires screeching]
[women screaming]
Stop it, stop it!
[all shouting]
Stop it!
Richard, stop, goddamn it!
Get in the house!
Get in the house!
Make you feel like a man,
boy, huh?
This a Blue neighborhood, boy!
Yeah, go on in the house.
[glass shatters]
Jesus.
Richard!
Why did you do that for?!
Richard, damn it, get out here!
What did you do that for?
Are you crazy?
You must be going crazy, 'cause
that man, he ain't done nothin'
to you.
Those are my friends, the only
friends I got in this whole ugly
rotten, rotten city.
And you can't-- you ain't
allowed to cause them no harm.
They are my friends.
Your friends, why do you
think those people come over
here in the first place?
'Cause they got nothing better
to do, that's why.
They love to come over here, sit
on their fat asses, and listen
to the country girl from
the boonies tell all our goddamn
family secrets.
That ain't true.
Blue, what the hell's he
think he is, in some goddamn
Sidney Poitier movie?
But he's got you going, doesn't
he?
He can touch you and do--
He don't touch me!
No, he's a goddamn pimp, for
Christ's sake.
Ain't you learn nothin' here?
You!
You ain't learned nothin'.
Who reads the papers in this
house?
Who watches Cronkite in this
house?
Not you.
You tell me what you know about
our civil-rights struggle,
which is what Blue walk on each
and every day of his life.
And because he's colored Negro
and he dress fine, you wanna go
and you wanna call him a pimp.
Well, that is just too damn
ignorant, Richard.
Meanwhile, what do you do with
your life?
You leave me here to set here
all alone.
You don't care about me.
You don't think about me!
All you care about is your
little silly goddamn racecar.
I sold the goddamn car, okay?
I sold the car 'cause I'm a man.
And I take care of my family.
And I work at that job every day
for three years where every
single day they call me "boy."
And I watch you take that
paycheck, go out and buy crap
put on your face, so I'm ashamed
to be seen in public with you.
That ain't it.
That ain't the truth.
I'm gonna tell you exactly why
you don't wanna be seen in
public with me.
It's because you ashamed to be
seen with a black woman.
Richard, don't you walk out on
me!
Richard!
I'm pregnant.
How long this check keep us?
I don't know.
Give you time to find another
job?
I don't know.
What difference does it make?
Were you gonna leave me?
No.
I don't wanna leave you, Bean.
I wanna leave here.
Where you wanna go?
Home.
They put us in jail if they
catch us.
Yeah, I know.
What they do to Sidney?
I don't know.
You have to leave all your
civil-rights stuff and your
friends.
I like my friends.
I love my family.
I miss my family.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think...
it's the only place we can live
together.
[sighs]
Come here.
I think it's the only place in
this whole damn world don't
matter what color we are.
Now, tell me I'm wrong.
Tell me you don't see people
staring at us that way.
Colored, white, don't matter.
All the same.
Your friends, when they first
seen me-- exact same way.
And it ain't true, Bean.
I ain't ashamed of you.
Nope.
I just-- I just can't bring
myself to go out there anymore
with you, have people looking at
us that way.
And you do know that look.
You know that look, Bean.
It's a look that make you feel
like you're...
You know, like you're, uh...
A nigger?
♪♪
♪♪
[scoffs]
Okay, Bean.
Wake up, Sidney.
Wake up, honey boy.
We home.
We home, baby.
[dog barking]
Mama, it's us.
Oh, my God.
Looky here.
Oh, my God!
Man!
Oh, my God!
Hey, man, how you doin'?
Hey, boy.
Look at that.
It's Sidney.
Yeah, he's grown half a foot
since you seen him last.
[laughter]
Whatcha all doin' here?
Yeah, so I mean, you got to
stay inside, though, see.
Y'all got to stay inside.
[overlapping conversation]
Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait.
One sec.
I forgot to tell y'all something
extremely important.
I'm gonna have another baby!
[all exclaiming]
[knock on door]
What?
It's okay, it's okay.
It's just the Lovin's.
I seen 'em come up.
Yeah, well, it's a good thing
we got James Bond over here,
ain't it?
[laughter]
Oh, go to Mama there, baby.
There you go!
All right.
Hello, Ma.
Hey, you remember your
grandmama.
Say hi, Sidney.
Oh.
Say hi, baby.
He's beautiful.
Oh.
[crying]
Bean: There's your grandpa.
[all giggling]
♪♪
Bean: Richard, where you
taking me to?
You know we ain't supposed to be
doing this.
Oh, my Lord.
[scoffs]
Come here.
It's cold.
We're still here, okay?
We never left here.
We never went up there.
We never lived there.
It didn't happen.
Okay?
None of it happened.
Except Sidney.
Except Sidney.
Okay?
Okay.
Okay.
It's them, it's them!
Come on, go, go, go, come on!
Come on, y'all, whatcha
waiting on?
Come on, get outta here!
Come on, let's go!
Let's go!
[Sidney whimpers]
[car starts]
Shh.
[siren blaring]
Hey, now whatcha all doing?
Get back in the house now!
Go on!
Get back in there!
Get out!
No!
[all shouting]
Leave him alone!
He's leaving the state.
Come on.
Bean: Come on, don't hurt
him, please.
Sheriff: Take it easy, little
lady.
[grunting] All right.
[Sidney crying]
Sheriff: Harley, go get
everybody's name in the house
there.
I know every--
Harley!
Come here.
Mama: Where are you taking
Richard?
What are you doing?
You know what I gotta do,
don't you?
[panting]
Oh, don't you look at me like
that, boy.
Did I call you all up and say,
"Come on down, we changed
the laws down here"?
Dumb.
Dumb!
Honest to freakin' God, now I
gotta haul you all up to
Greensville for a year inside.
I mean, that's gonna open your
eyes, boy.
[Sidney whimpering]
Damn, with all the
nice-lookin' white girls in this
county, why did you have to go
and marry one of them?
[spits]
Here.
Now listen good, you hear me?
I'm gonna make you a deal.
I'm gonna let you off.
And her, too.
If-- now, there ain't no deal
comes for free.
You gotta end the marriage.
That's the deal.
End it.
Over and done.
Never happened.
I guarantee the judge will be
more than happy to grant you
an annulment.
A little birdy told me.
Okay?
That's the deal.
No negotiatin', no nothin'.
End the marriage.
Or get in the cruiser.
I'm giving you the choice, son.
I don't see there's much choice
in it.
Can I at least discuss this
with my wife?
I expect you're gonna have
to, son.
[door slams]
He asleep?
Yeah.
Good.
He says he'll let us go.
[sighs]
The thing is, uh...
we, uh, we--
The deal is...
we split up.
What?
Yeah.
Split up.
Call it off.
He says, uh, he says the old
son-of-a-bitch judge would be
happy to do it.
And I bet he will.
Bet he will.
But that's...
that's the deal, Bean.
Or we go to jail.
Now, it means, it means you can
stay here.
Just like you used to before.
Like--
Like it didn't happen.
[knock on window]
Richard?
Hang on tight.
[car starts]
All: Go, go!
Go, go!
[all shouting]
[siren blaring]
Go!
♪♪
[siren continues]
Go, Richard, go!
[siren continues]
[tires squealing]
Come on, come on.
[siren continues]
[siren continues]
Wait!
[tires squealing]
[screaming]
Richard!
[siren continues]
Aah!
[laughing]
[cackling]
We did it!
Go, Richard, go!
Catch me now, you
son-of-a-bitch cop!
Catch me now.
[car doors slam]
[sighs]
[children playing]
I'll get the baby.
Sophia: Oh, my goodness.
Where you all been to?
Hey, Sophia.
Some man come by for you.
What did he say?
Y'all settle down now.
Huh?
What'd the man tell you?
Oh, he just lookin' for you
is all.
No, but did he, uh, did he
say...
Did he say he was from
the police?
The what, honey?!
[Sidney whimpering]
Come on, honey boy, now don't
spray it all over.
Here-- oh.
[Sidney whimpering]
I gotta find me a job.
Worry about that tomorrow.
Better worry about it today.
You got any money?
Well, we got nearly a hundred
in the bank.
Oh!
Well, let's buy us a Cadillac.
A red one.
Hell, a convertible.
With white walls.
[knock on door]
You take the baby.
Go in the back.
[Sidney whimpering]
Shh, shh.
[knock on door]
Mr. Loving?
Richard Loving?
My name is Bernie Cohen.
I gave my card to your neighbor.
You weren't here before, so,
uh...
Is this a convenient time?
See, the thing is that I'm so
busy these days, I can only come
by after work.
See?
I'd ask you to my office, but
it's in Virginia, you know, so.
Is your wife here?
She's the one who actually sent
the letter.
What letter?
Letter, the one, uh, Bobby
Kennedy.
Bean!
Bernie: So, um, you sent the
letter, right, to Bobby Kennedy,
and his office, they go through
all his mail and they-- well,
they read yours and they
forwarded it onto the ACLU
office in New York because there
isn't one here, though there
will be, you know.
But anyway, I guess you could
call me a stringer for the ACLU.
Um, I have my own practice.
You looking for a divorce?
I'm kidding.
[chuckles]
Kidding.
Uh, but anyway, I do as much
pro bono work as I can for them.
I believe in them, and I'd like
to work full-time for them, but
I just got married.
And I bought a house, and
the mortgage is killing me.
So, so, so, so.
So!
I told them, "Sure."
I just, you know, come by and
meet you two, get the story, and
see if there's anything, any
legal basis that I can help you
with, okay?
You from the police?
Uh, the ACLU, the American
Civil Liberties Union.
I'm sorry, I thought-- well,
the letter, your letter,
Mrs. Loving, was so eloquent
that I-- I thought you were
familiar with the legal...
you know, the legal stuff.
But you know what, that's not
important.
I'm a lawyer.
I'm here to help you.
The end.
"Dear Mr. Kennedy, yesterday I
seen Dr. King speak.
I'm sure you seen it, too, and
recall him talking about his
dream that in our country, white
folks and black folks should
have the right to join their
hands together.
I'm a Negro woman, and my
husband Richard is a white man.
They arrested us because it is
against the law in Virginia for
us to marry.
The judge made us leave the
state, and now we live here in
Washington, and we don't like
it.
I don't think it's anybody
else's business who I marry as
long as it don't hurt anybody.
And we never hurt anybody in all
our lives.
Can you please help us?
Sincerely yours, Mildred
Loving."
Did you both compose this?
Uh, no, no, she--
Well...
you certainly...
This definitely got everybody's
attention.
But for me to help you, I have
to hear the whole story.
So just begin at the beginning,
and I'm just gonna sit right
here and I'm not gonna say
anything.
I'm just gonna listen.
Okay?
Well, I--
Go ahead.
I known Richard all my life.
And, uh, we started seeing each
other and a while after, I--
She didn't know it was
against the law, see, so I
brought her here to get married.
Because I knew we couldn't do it
back home.
And on our wedding night,
that very same night, they come
right in our bedroom.
Now, we was naked.
They came right in and took us
to jail and left us there.
They let Richard out the next
morning.
Wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't
even look at me.
You know, I asked them as they
letting us out, and they just
walk on by, slam the door, left
me in another week.
Now, it wasn't my fault, see?
I told them to let her out.
She didn't even know why she was
in there.
They didn't tell me.
They didn't tell me nothin' till
the trial.
Didn't let me take no shower.
Didn't give me no clean dress.
It wasn't no real trial
anyway.
The old judge they had, he slept
through most of it.
He had his mind made up anyway.
He gave some speech about God
or something.
What'd he say?
He said, "God made the races
separate on purpose," or some
kind of bull, see?
And then he sentenced us to one
year--
One to three.
That's right, in prison.
And then he said he'd suspend it
if we left the state.
For 25 years.
Twenty-five years in this
place!
Now, think about it.
Think about that!
I'd like to see that judge spend
25 days right here.
And then, so, we, we...
We came here.
And, uh...
That's it.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Um, thank you.
That was, uh, very clear and...
clear!
That was-- that was...
very clear.
I'd like to... to think about it
and, um, then, um, I'll get back
to you.
Okay?
Uh, thank you.
Okay, okay, okay, all right.
This is what it is.
I'm, uh, I'm like 95% sure about
this, but what we have here is
a Supreme Court case.
[exhales]
TheSupreme Court, you know,
the one down the road?
I don't mean the State Supreme
Court, I mean-- we do have to go
to the State first.
You can't go to the Supreme
Court without first going to
the State.
But that's, that's nothing.
That's a formality.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
I'm 28 and I have a Supreme
Court case.
You know, you talk about
building a practice.
But, um, anyway...
let me just tell you, what they
did to you... they can't do.
Yeah, but they, uh--
No, I, I, I don't care if
there's some law in some state
which says they can.
According to the Constitution of
the United States of America,
they can't do it.
Believe me, it's a law from
like-- it's one of the last
chains from the slave days.
It won't stand the test.
It's gonna go down, you know,
like a bomb.
Boom!
Okay.
What we have to do is we have to
go back to the same court.
We have to start all over again.
And we're gonna lose all over
again.
But that is exactly what we want
because-- and this is the beauty
of it-- because this is
a civil-rights case.
So the Supreme Court, the feds
here, they have to hear it.
They can't pass on it.
It will go to them.
Your case is gonna go to
the Supreme Court.
And it'll be overturned.
All these racist laws will be
wiped off the books.
But does that mean that we--
Oh, yes, yes, I'm sorry.
You know what, I, I--
Please, um, understand, I'm 28,
you know, and this is the
biggest thing that can happen to
a lawyer.
I said that already, didn't I?
Whoo, I'm sorry.
It means that your sentence is
gone.
It's over.
And there's no ridiculous
medieval banishment, no prison,
no nothing.
You go back home together.
Free at last.
Believe me.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's my pleasure.
It's my honor.
All right, well, that's all.
That's all I can think of for
right now.
So, um, it's-- oh, great.
I'm late again as usual.
Um, thank you.
It's-- it's been, uh...
How long you think it'll
take?
Oh, uh, well, with a case
like this, uh, you'd have to
file for each one.
You have to wait for a court
date, and there's the research
and the papers.
Um...
[exhales]
You want the truth?
Mm-hmm.
A long time.
How long?
Years.
And you have to be model
citizens the whole time.
You have to obey the laws.
And you have to stay here.
But, but...
if you can do that...
I will win this case for you.
I will.
It's a promise.
Look, here's my card.
It's got my number on there to
office and home.
All right?
Call me.
Will you call me?
Okay.
Listen...
trust me.
Okay.
[panting]
What, Bean?
Oh, God, Richard, he said
the Supreme Court.
Yeah, he said a lot of things
fast.
Well, doesn't that mean--
I mean, if he's right and if
he's good.
Yeah, if he can stand it up
here.
Yeah, then we could go back
home... together with our
babies.
And they couldn't do a thing
about it, could they?
I don't know.
But I'd love to see it.
I'd love to see that skinny old
son-of-a-bitch judge just stand
there and watch us walk down
the street, just like that.
Just like we own it.
And him not allowed to open his
mean, old wrinkled mouth.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I'd love to see that,
boy.
I could die after I seen that.
Hmm.
Call him.
Bean, it's 2:00 in
the morning.
Please?
♪♪
That's what I'll do.
["Turn, Turn, Turn" begins]
♪ To everything
♪ Turn, turn, turn
♪ There is a season
♪ Turn, turn, turn
♪ And a time to every purpose
♪ Under heaven
♪ A time to be born
♪ A time to die
♪ A time to plant
♪ A time to reap
♪ A time to kill
♪ A time to heal
♪ A time to laugh
♪ A time to weep
♪ To everything
♪ Turn, turn, turn
♪ There is a season
♪ Turn, turn, turn
♪ And a time to every purpose
♪ Under heaven
♪ A time to build up
♪ A time to break down
♪ A time to dance
♪ A time to mourn
♪ A time to cast away stones
♪ A time to gather stones
♪ Together... ♪
[music continues]
Bean: Hey.
How you doing?
Oh, my gosh, this Sidney and
Donald?
You boys are getting so big.
Stand up here.
Oh, my gosh, you're getting so
big and heavy.
What are you guys building
there?
How's everything?
We all right.
Richard here?
Yeah, he inside watching
sports.
I think you should get him.
Sidney, go tell your daddy
Mr. Cohen come.
Bernie, Bernie.
How's Becky doing?
Oh, I just got her to sleep.
Oh, she's sleeping.
Mr. Cohen.
Bernie, Bernie.
[sighs]
Okay.
Huh?
That's it.
That's your day in court.
I told you.
You did.
Yeah, you did.
It only took, uh...
Three years and eight months.
Three years, eight months.
Really?
Wow.
[exhales]
So...
you're invited, you know.
It's a show.
Really, it's...
It's history.
Don't you wanna hear me give my
speech?
Oh, yeah, sure we do, uh,
Mr. Cohen.
It's just, uh...
well...
I don't think we could stand
being there.
Okay.
Richard: Mr. Cohen?
Thank you.
All right.
[chorus humming]
That these are the most
odious laws to come before this
court.
They are not concerned with
racial integrity or with racial
supremacy.
They rob the Negro race of its
dignity.
And only a decision which will
reach the full body of these
laws of the state of Virginia
will change that.
If the framers had intended to
exclude anti-miscegenation
statutes, it would have taken
but a single phrase in the 14th
Amendment to do so.
But there is none.
The language meant to include
equal protection for Negroes.
And with that equal protection
comes the right to marry as any
other human being has the right
to marry.
And that is the right of Richard
and Mildred Loving.
To wake up in the morning, to go
to sleep at night knowing...
that the sheriff will not be
knocking on their door...
or shining a light in their
faces in the privacy of their
bedroom.
No matter how we attempt to
emphasize the enormity of the
injustices under this Virginia
statute, no one can articulate
it better than Richard Loving
when he said to me, "Mr. Cohen,
tell the court I love my wife
and that it is just unfair.
And I can't live with her...
back home...
in Virginia."
I thank the Court.
[chorus continues humming]
♪ People, get ready
♪ There's a train a comin'
♪ You don't need no baggage
♪ You just get onboard
♪ All you need is faith
♪ To hear the diesel comin'
♪ You don't need no ticket
♪ You just thank the Lord
[chorus humming]
♪ People, get ready
♪ There's a train to Jordan
♪ It's pickin' up passengers
♪ Coast to coast
♪ Faith is the key
♪ To open the doors
♪ And board it
♪ But there's room for wrong
♪ Among those loved the most
♪ There ain't no room
♪ For you hopeless sinners
♪ Who has spent all mankind
♪ Just to save his own
♪ Believe me now
♪ Have pity on those y'all
♪ Whose chances grow thinner
♪ But there's no hiding place
♪ Against the kingdom's throne
♪ So people, get ready
♪ There's a train a comin'
♪ You don't need no baggage
♪ You just get onboard
♪ All you need is faith
♪ To hear the diesel comin'
♪ You don't need no ticket
♪ You just thank
♪ The... Lord ♪
♪♪
How do?
How do, there do.
Richie!
Hey, Mrs. Jeter.
Ow, that's hot!
Take that on up to the barn,
will you?
[laughing]
[indistinct chatter]
Good to see you.
[lighter clicks]
♪♪ [Roy Milton's
"Milton's Boogie" playing]
♪ That's all right, baby
♪ That's all right for you
♪♪
♪ That's all right, baby
♪ That's all right for you
Yeah, yeah!
We gonna have a wang-dang-doodle
tonight!
Hey, Mr. Jeter!
How you doin', man?
[indistinct chatter]
Mmm! Mm-mm.
♪♪
What you feelin', girl?
[indistinct chatter]
Hey, boy, where you been?
I was out back.
Look here.
Whoa, Norma!
[laughing] Hey, Richard!
Go ahead on.
Nah, you were here first.
Go on.
No, no.
[laughing] No.
Oh!
[shrieks]
Yeah, come on, y'all.
[indistinct chatter]
Look at you.
Ain't you something?
[indistinct chatter]
Whoo!
Yay! Aah ha ha!
Whoo!
♪ Yes, I know
♪♪
♪ Baby, baby
♪ What's the matter now
♪ Baby, baby
♪ What's the matter now
Bean?
That you, bean?
Yeah.
Say what?
Yeah, it's me.
Hey, Joe!
What happened to String Bean
here?
That be nature, man.
[laughing]
♪ That's all right for you
♪♪
♪ That's all right, mama
♪ Most any old way you do
♪♪
♪ Got wings like a devil
♪ Shaped like a frog
♪ But when she starts lovin'
♪ Holler, "Ooh, hot dog"
♪ I love my baby
♪ Better than I love myself
♪♪
♪ Come to find out baby's
♪ In love with someone...
[car engines rev]
[applause]
[tires screeching]
[track announcer] Driven by
Richard Loving from over in
Caroline county.
And the black...
[crowd cheering]
... put 12,000 man hours' work
into her.
And the starter is ready.
[engines revving]
[tires screeching]
Go, Richard!
Go, Richard!
Now!
Go! Go!
[all cheering]
Hyah!
Aaaah!
Richard!
[laughing]
All right!
[engine humming]
[cheers and applause]
Beautiful, beautiful,
beautiful.
Thing of beauty, thing of
beauty, man.
That was great, man.
You shifted at just the right
minute, man, I mean it.
Everything held up good.
That was some sweet shifting,
boy, I taught you well.
I'll tell you the truth.
Motor looks good, too.
Motor looks real good.
Whew!
Boy, you know you came in under
ten seconds.
Load of plywood going out at
6:00 a.m. tomorrow.
Uh...
Yeah, I'll be there.
[snickers]
[sighs]
What Bean say was you got top
eliminator over there.
Well, we was lucky.
Try this here, Richard.
Your mama make spoon bread?
Lucky, hell-- Leonard said
you beat that guy like he was
standin' still!
You get a trophy for that,
Richard?
Give him some tea, Norma.
You want some tea, honey?
Of course he gets a trophy.
Girl, you born slow or
something?
Mama!
Gerald.
Hush, hush, now-- say she
could feel that noise right down
to the bone.
Can I come over and see it
sometime, Richard?
Nobody around here ever won
nothin'.
[slams pitcher down]
My, my, my, ain't you
something tonight, honey girl?
Bean, that's my dress.
Oh, yeah, but it be workin'
on her.
[laughter]
Pa!
Now, everybody hush, now.
Richard, I want you to have her
back at 10:00.
Mama!
[all] Mama!
Well, 11:00, then.
No drinking, no driving fast,
and no you-know-what.
Well, no driving fast, I
ain't going.
[laughter]
That boy is something else,
ain't he?
♪♪ [faint music on radio]
Grape Tru-Ade?
Damn, girl, you sure that ain't
too strong?
I like grape.
Hey, Dexter, I can't find me
no grape soda in here!
My girl says if I can't come up
with one, she's gonna walk home
on-- ohh, ohh!
Help! Help!
Hey, it's got me!
Hey, it's got me!
Ohh! Whoop.
Never mind, never mind,
never mind.
This what you want?
Yeah.
Oh! Oh, no, okay.
All right.
Oh! Well, no, this--
Okay.
[both shouting indistinctly]
Ohh!
[laughter]
Whoo whoo! Hoo!
Whoo! Whoo!
[laughing]
I'll give it to you.
I'll give it to you.
You gotta give me something
first, though.
A nickel.
No, not a nickel.
A kiss.
[chuckles]
Not here.
No? Where?
I don't know.
I do.
[whispers] Come on.
[motor rumbling]
[Santo & Johnny's "Sleep Walk"]
♪♪
Old Civil War road is what
they is.
All in through here.
Yeah.
I been on every one of 'em, I
guess.
My dad let me drive his '39
Plymouth, I'd... sit up on a
Sears catalog.
[both chuckle]
Drivin' around.
What?
Mmm!
[both groaning softly]
I ain't supposed to be doing
this.
Mmm.
I ain't supposed to.
[breathing hard]
Ohh!
Oh, Richie.
Mmm... mmm.
[both moaning]
He measure up from the floor,
and he say, "Adeline, your skirt
two inches too short."
Meantime, he catching a look
right up to heaven there.
I seen him!
I was standing one over.
He had us all lined up like we
was criminals.
Me and Richie doing it.
What?
Me and Richie, we doing it.
Tell me.
Lord have mercy, tell!
Tell me, tell me!
Well, there's this dirt road
he knows about.
And there's this real nice
place, and sometimes we go down
there, and he lays a blanket
out, and sometimes we stay in
the car.
And sometimes, we turn the radio
on and... we do it.
Since when?
Since a while.
How many times?
A night? Or...
A night?!
Okay.
Yeah, sure.
How many times a night?
Well, we done it six times,
once.
Six?!
Shh...
[whispering] Six times in one
night?
[laughing] What is he, off a
spaceship?
[both laughing]
Mama kill you both.
Norma, you ain't gonna tell
her, is you?
Nah.
Promise?
I ain't gonna tell her, Bean,
jeez.
But did you like it?
Yeah.
A lot.
[both laugh]
[engine snarling]
Aaah!
[both laughing]
Let's go again.
Wanna go again?
[giggling]
You ready?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Richard, you looking at me.
You said you wasn't gonna look
at me.
Richard!
Huh?
I can't help it.
You're so beautiful.
♪♪
[corn rustling]
[sighs]
Richard...
Bean!
What are you doing out here?
How long you been out here?
A while.
Come here.
What's the matter?
Huh?
Well, you been out here all
night, you're not gonna tell me
what's the matter?
I...
Well, uh, just hang on, okay?
I gotta-- I just gotta go.
I-I'll just be a minute.
Go on.
Huh? Just-- just--
just a minute.
[sniffles]
Gah!
I'm gonna have a baby.
[thudding]
[door creaks]
You mind?
No.
You?
No.
[sighs]
You wanna come in for
breakfast?
[grunts]
Say what?
You can't marry her.
Yeah, I can.
No, shut up!
She's colored, and you ain't.
The end.
No, it ain't the end.
It's against the law, son.
Don't you know that?
Don't Bean know?
She, uh...
I'll just find a church up in
D.C.
What are you talking about?
When's the last time you seen a
white man marry a colored in
Caroline County?
I don't know.
Look at the Broward clan, or the
McNaughtons-- I mean, hell,
they're every color of the
rainbow.
Okay, well, answer me two
questions.
Number one: where do all them
folks live at?
Aw, come on.
I know where they're from.
Pretend I'm from New York
City, okay?
They're from Central Point.
Central Point.
Where nobody comes and nobody
goes, and nobody sure as hell
cares...
and white men been slippin' in
colored beds ever since there
was a white man.
But you tell me...
question number two.
You ever seen any of 'em get
married?
One?
Ever?
It's the right thing to do.
[clock ticking softly]
It... just ain't somethin'
that-- that you do.
Trouble!
Trouble's what I see!
Trouble coming down on us!
How many times I gotta tell
you, honey girl, you gotta stop
and think before you just jump
in like that!
See, Leonard say y'all
can't get married up here
anyways.
Ain't nobody gonna do--
I ain't sayin' nothin' about
you love him or you don't love
him-- now, that's your business.
Course, what you know about
love, I can put in a tiny little
teaspoon.
You tell 'em, Mom.
You children don't know
nothin' about no trouble.
Your lives been too easy up
here.
That's right.
And don't think that I
fault Richard just because you
ain't got the sense that you was
born with.
She just too good-looking.
That's the problem, since she
started filling out--
Mama!
It ain't her fault, Mama.
I know that, but... listen,
what we doin' is we asking you
to just both stop and listen
because it just--
Yeah, listen!
Because we been out there.
That's right.
We seen it!
Uh-huh.
And it just ain't--
It ain't--
It ain't something that you
do!
[all] That's right.
That's the truth-- it ain't
something you do.
Yeah.
Oh, babies.
♪♪
[buzzing]
Uh, come on in.
Hey, Buster, get yourself a
partner, come on!
Why ain't you dancin'?
♪♪
Here you are.
Where was I?
Oh, yeah, so I go across the
bridge, looked him up in the
phone book, the whole thing was
over and done in five minutes.
Oh, it was incredible.
His wife was there.
Between you and I, it looked
like she had a carrot stuck
you-know-where.
[laughter]
But the whole trip, it was under
three hours.
Mmm!
You know that flat part, just
before the bridge?
You know, just right up there?
I had her going up to 80 miles
an hour.
No vibration, nothin'.
All the time, all the time.
Means you be quittin' that
high school, don't it?
Yeah, I-- I guess.
Richard say where he want to
live?
He didn't say nothin'.
Well, there ain't enough room
in his place, not unless y'all
want to sleep in bed with his
mama and daddy.
[silverware clinks]
You tell him, don't ask him,
honey girl.
Okay? 'Cause you gotta learn
to come on out and say what you
want.
Now, you just tell him that
you're coming here to live, and
that's the way it is.
Oh, baby, you stay with me,
okay?
Till you grow into that body of
yours.
[laughing]
Mama...
Well.
Thank you.
[music ends]
[indistinct chatter]
♪ Love, oh, love
♪ Oh, precious love
♪ Mm-mm-mm
[both] ♪ Love, oh, love
♪ Oh, precious love
Come on, Pa.
[all] ♪ Love, oh, love
♪ Oh, love
[all] ♪ Oh, precious love
♪ Precious love
[all] ♪ Look what
♪ Precious love
♪ Has done for me
Come on, Bean and Richard.
Come on, it's your dance.
[all] ♪ If I could sing
♪ Like a morning dove
♪ Like a morning dove
[all] ♪ If I could sing
♪ Like a morning dove
♪ Morning dove
[all] ♪ If I could sing
♪ Like a morning dove
♪ I'd sing for everyone
♪ In love
♪ Everyone in love
♪ I'd sing for everyone
♪ In love ♪
[cheers and applause]
♪♪ [lively fiddle music]
Hold on, now!
[loud thud]
[grunts]
What?
Who's the woman you're
sleeping with, son?
What?
I'm his wife.
Not here, you ain't.
Let's go.
♪♪
[handcuffs clinking]
♪♪
Mama, do I have to go?
[crying] Oh, baby.
[sobbing]
[whispering] Richard.
Richard.
Yeah, I'm here.
What do we do?
[sighs]
[door clattering]
[keys clinking]
Come here, boy.
Let's go.
They lettin' us out?
Where you going?
Here, son.
Here's your papers.
Now go on home and behave now,
you hear?
Go on!
What about her?
Come on, son, let's go.
Upstairs.
Be a good man.
Richard!
Richard!
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[indistinct chatter]
[man coughs]
... that door over there, and
he's gonna sit down.
And what he'll say is,
"Defendants rise," and you two
are gonna stand up, and I'm
gonna stand up with y'all.
And I'll be right there next to
you.
Now, what I want you to do is
look straight ahead, look him
right in the eye, and don't look
at each other.
I don't want you to act...
married.
What I want him to see is two
young people standing there
separate, with their whole lives
in front of them.
Are you listening to me?
Be upstanding in court.
Defendants rise.
On the count of
Miscegenation, I find defendant
Richard Perry Loving and
defendant Mildred Dolores Jeter
guilty as charged.
[all gasping]
To be remanded to the state
penitentiary system for a time
of not less than one nor more
than three years.
No!
However...
I'm gonna go ahead and suspend
the sentences... provided both
defendants leave Caroline County
and the state of Virginia...
forthwith, and do not return
to said state and county
together for 25 years.
[all gasp and murmur]
Almighty God created the races.
White, black, yellow, Malay, and
red.
And he placed them on separate
continents.
And but for the interference
with his arrangement, there
would be no cause for such
marriages.
The fact that he separated the
races shows that he did not
intend for the races to mix.
Case closed!
No!
[courtroom murmuring]
[sighs]
Richard.
Take care of her, you hear?
Or so help me, I'll get out my
bird gun and I'll come find you.
[indistinct chatter]
I'll see you Sunday up at
Colonial Park.
Ain't no God damn law against me
coming back alone.
No, sir.
Nothing's changed.
Nothing's changed.
[car horn honks]
Told you this'd happen.
[car engine revving]
Bye, Ma.
[car door squeaks]
[engine starts]
Call soon as you get there,
all right?
[crow caws]
I didn't tell you.
It's okay.
No...
I thought if we went and got
married up in DC, nobody would
care, you know?
It's okay.
They wouldn't bother to come
after two people like us.
It's okay.
I'm sorry, babe.
♪♪
Go on.
Bean...
No... you go on.
[children laughing]
Come on, you gotta see.
It's... more than we hoped for.
It's too much money, but it's--
They got a toilet right next to
the bedroom.
It's pink.
Pink!
Well--
This is a restricted
building, Mr., uh...
Do you know what that means?
Well, it means that you can't
rent an apartment here if
you're, if--
if she's with you.
You're just looking in the wrong
part of town, that's all.
I'm just telling you for your
own good, so you don't go off
and put somebody else through
this, okay?
Why don't you go over and look
someplace like Shaw?
Shaw, can you remember that?
It's a whole lot cheaper there,
too.
You go and, uh, tell your...
My wife.
Whatever you think best.
I won't say anything.
Come on, too much money.
♪♪
[children playing]
[Richard sighs]
That the last one?
It's better than the last ten we
seen.
Another paper come out
tomorrow.
You wanna sleep in the car
again tonight?
Why can't we just go back to
the first one we seen?
I mean, one room'll do for
now.
By the time the baby come,
you'll have work.
We can get a one-bedroom, and
the park is just right across
the street.
All I gotta do is walk the baby
across the street.
I don't need a car or nothin'.
They won't have you, Bean.
Don't you understand that?
They won't have you.
I mean, why do you think these
people live here?
You think they want to live
here?
Who the hell'd want to live in
this place?
God damn son of a bitch!
[indistinct street chatter]
[brush scrubbing]
[water trickling]
How'd you do?
[sighs] I don't know.
I went clear into Maryland.
Nobody's hiring.
Place looks good, babe.
[water sloshing]
Got a race up at Colonial.
Listen to your radio shows,
okay?
I won't be late.
Say hey to Leonard for me.
All right, will do.
[car driving by]
♪♪ [radio playing R&B]
[car horn honking]
[street chatter]
Hey, bro, good to see you,
man!
Wondered when you was back in
town.
That's mine!
Excuse me one second.
Yeah, sure.
All right.
Later.
Howdy.
Hey there, I'm Blue.
Hey.
Blue Conklin.
His name's Irving, honey.
Least that's what his mama call
him when he-- he come out.
The ugliest baby born that year,
as I recall.
[laughter]
And don't you go giving him
another minute of your precious
life, darling.
It's almost 2:00-- ain't you
forgetting about your TV
stories there, Sophia?
Sophia's the name.
He got that part right.
And this here is the Wilder
sisters-- Leeanne and Marcella.
Oh, I guess, uh, her mama
and daddy didn't give her no
no name at all.
Oh! Um...
I'm Mildred.
Mildred Jeter.
Loving.
Mmm... Loving.
Shut up.
You ever had your hair done,
sugar?
They's hairdressers, both of
'em.
Out-of-work hairdressers.
Oh, and you ain't?
Oh, I work-- you know good
and damn well I work, girl.
"Slick"...
S.C.L.C.
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference.
That's Martin Luther King's
people.
Mm-hmm.
[Wilders] Martin Luther King.
You heard of the King.
You do know what the Civil
Rights Movement is?
I ain't sure.
Well, I bet you know what
black and white together is!
[laughter]
Oh, you mean Richard?
Mm-hmm.
Oh, well, he ain't-- I mean,
he's just Richard, that's all.
I knowed him all my life.
His best friend, Leonard
Johnson, he's a colored man.
Negro.
That's right.
He's darker than me.
See, back where I come from,
in Central Point, there's white
and there's colored right next
to one another.
Always been, all my life.
That's the way it is.
On the moon, that's the way
it is, girl.
No, that's the way it is.
Well, it ain't here.
Mm, sure ain't.
Here, you live in Shaw.
And your skin is black.
And that's the way it is.
[Wilders] Mm-hmm.
Don't think about going down
to Georgetown.
It don't matter if you got the
money for one of the
restaurants.
You go down there, and them cops
are gonna come down on you.
And that's the way it is.
You wanna know what my job is?
I'll tell you: I walk into a
luncheon counter, and I sit in
the whites-only section, and I
sit in the front of the bus,
and I even go down... to
Virginia, and I piss in a toilet
that don't say "colored."
Right in, right in.
Now, I ain't never heard of
no Central Point, and I'm having
a hard time believing that there
is a place where whites and
Negro, don't make no difference.
But you here now.
You gotta look around and open
your eyes, heh, and recognize,
heh, the eeevil...
I say, the...
[all] Eeevil...
... that lies, heh, before
you, heh.
You gotta fight, heh, for your
right, heh.
You gotta fight, heh, for your
life, heh.
You gotta fight, heh, like, we
all doin', heh.
♪ You and you and you and you
You all gotta fight.
And, girl...
your face...
a bottom like yours...
you got half the damn battle...
licked.
[Wilders laugh]
All right, Irving.
That'll do with that.
[bell jingling]
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter and chatter]
Ooh, Sophia, I ain't had
chicken this good since my mama
used to...
[indistinct chatter]
Hey, Richard!
How'd you do?
Come over here, I want you to
meet my friends.
This is Sophia and Leeanne and
Marcella and Blue.
They come over here after you
left.
Mi-Mildred says you racing
cars today.
Yes, ma'am, yeah.
Excuse me.
Talk to my wife.
Bean.
He must have lost.
I wanna thank y'all.
Richard--
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
Now, grab that chair right
there.
Go on, go on-- grab that chair.
Just bring it right over here.
Just right about there.
Give me that piece of chicken.
Now, you sit down.
Ask me how I done at the races
today.
Richard--
No, go on, ask me how I done
at the races.
How did you do at the races?
I got a job.
A job!
That's right, ain't no
joyride down there, Bean.
I'm telling you, I got
connections, and one of 'em,
Thad Harper-- he's the old guy
that drives the Twister, right?
Uh-huh.
Well, he come up to me and
says, "Heard about y'all's move.
And I know how hard a place DC
can be and-- you know, he lives
here, right?
And he says, "You looking for
work, I got it."
Now, I don't say nothin', you
know.
I'm too proud, right?
But Leonard, he don't care, so
he says, "Damn right the boy
needs work.
He got a baby on the way and
everything."
So That hires me right there,
boom, just like that.
[gasps]
Well, what kind of job?
The kind that pays a buck 25
an hour.
That's 50 bucks a week, 200 a
month, Bean-- we're rich.
I'm telling you, we're gonna
make it here.
Oh, Richard!
Whoa, hold on, hold on.
Um, um, you just...
Oh, stay right there.
A TV!
Ohh, my Lord!
Yeah, now go on, sit down,
right there.
A TV!
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
There we go.
Oh, oh, oh, uh...
You don't wanna touch it.
Just...
Oh.
Uh, fix the static.
There we go.
Yeah.
It's not a new TV.
♪♪ [orchestral music]
[woman on TV] I love you,
too, but... it scares me.
♪♪
But it is a wonderful feeling.
It's wonderful you're here.
And I can hold you, I can--
I can see you.
And I can hold you next to me.
Oh, Angela, if I could only tell
you how much I love you.
If I could only tell you all.
Tell mama.
Tell mama all.
♪♪
[crickets chirping]
Sophia... it's time.
We goin' to the hospital now.
[dog barking]
I just want her to know we was
leaving.
[groans]
Good luck, honey girl!
Good luck now!
All right.
Happy landings!
[giggles]
Good luck!
Thanks, Sophia.
It's gonna be all right,
dear, it's gonna be all right.
It'll be all right.
[engine starts]
It's gonna be all right!
She's my wife!
She's my God damn wife!
She has the same rights I do!
Sir, listen to me!
No, you'd take me if I was
sick-- take a look at her, God
damn it!
I told you, this is a private
hospital!
It don't matter, she needs
help now!
Freedman's is over on "H"
Street, they'd be happy to take
her there.
No! No, I ain't going to
another God damn hospital!
This is the God damn hospital!
I'm staying right here!
They will be happy to take--
She has the same rights I do!
Stop it! Leave him alone!
The same God damn rights I
do!
Out!
Stop it! Move it!
No, stop!
Come on.
Come on!
You all rot in hell!
[tires screeching]
Oh, Lord God Almighty!
Oh, Richard, hurry up.
[sobbing] Hurry up!
[gasping and groaning]
I think you're in the wrong
hospital!
She's having a baby!
She's bleeding!
She's bleeding... come on.
Oh, Jesus, Lord.
Oh.
Don't you worry about a thing,
baby.
We've got you.
[wailing]
Watch it, we're coming up to
a corner here, baby.
[gasping]
Go to the desk, sir.
Go to the desk.
No, I'm staying right here
with her.
You got to fill out the form,
sir.
Oh, Richard...
Come on, sir, you gotta check
her in.
You're fine, baby.
Come on, she'll be fine.
[indistinct chatter]
[PA] Dr. Kelly, please call
the operator.
[indistinct chatter]
♪♪
[chuckles]
Hold on.
We gonna call your grandma
Jeter.
Girl, go in.
[girls] M-I!
Crooked letter, crooked letter,
"I"!
Crooked letter, crooked letter,
"I"!
Humpback, humpback, "I"!
M-I-S-S...
[overlapping chatter]
[chanting continues]
[line ringing]
[man on phone] Hirams.
Mr. Hiram?
Hi, it's Bean Jeter.
I think my mama's supposed to
be--
Bean, how you doing?
Yeah, she sure is, honey.
Now, don't you go nowheres, now.
Honey girl?
Hey, Mama!
Oh, darling, how are you?
I'm fine, Mama, I'm fine.
Everybody here is good.
Uh, what?
Did you get the pictures I
sent?
Oh, did we!
And that baby, he's just a
wonder!
Ain't he something, Mama?
He's with me right now, sleeping
just like a little angel.
Ohh, heh.
And how are you and Richard
doing?
We're fine, Mama.
We're fine.
Yeah, well, what do you do
with your days then?
I mean, you all alone when
Richard go off?
No, no, no.
I-- I got my friends.
Uh, they're real nice people.
They gettin' me into civil
rights.
What?
You ain't marching, are you,
baby?
No, no, I ain't, Mama.
It's just that...
Negroes gotta stand up, is all.
I mean, we can't let 'em keep us
down forever.
Well, what did Richard say?
Well, he got his, you know,
his-- his car racing and all.
He don't mind that?
Uh... he...
He loves the baby.
Well-- well, all right.
That's good, that's good.
[operator] Deposit 75 cents
for the next three minutes,
please.
No, no, no, no, don't do it.
No, no, Mama, wait.
[coins clinking]
No.
Ma-- hello, hello?
Mama, hello?
I'm here, honey.
I-I don't think you should be
spending your money, though.
No, no, Mama.
I just-- I just wanted to say
good-bye, is all.
Oh...
Sure, okay, then.
Kiss Papa for me?
I'll do that.
Write often, honey.
[crying] Okay, well, um...
I guess it's good-bye.
Uh, honey girl...
Now, you would tell me if you
wasn't okay, wouldn't you?
No, no, Mama, I told you.
We're fine.
We're fine.
It's just that, uh...
Oh, I miss you, is all.
Oh, baby.
Well, all right, um...
I'm gonna go now, Mama.
Okay? Uh... bye, now.
Okay... you take care now,
hear?
Bye.
[click]
[children chattering]
All right.
We won't go too fast.
Okay, next one.
Oh... it's okay.
[on TV] ♪ We shall overcome
♪ We shall overcome
All right, does everybody
like egg salad?
Uh-huh.
Leeanne, you got the ham,
right?
Mm-hmm, got the ham, got the
chicken, got the sandwich
spread.
Okay, what else?
All right, anybody seen King
yet?
No.
Oh, wait a minute.
There he is.
Right there.
Oh...
[laughter]
You don't know.
I do know, Sophia.
Hell, I met the man.
Oh, please, Blue.
Okay, okay, let's just go.
I'm about peeing in my pants
with excitement.
Okay, what about Sidney?
Are you dry, doll baby?
He's dry as a bone, honey.
Just open that little spot.
Richard, where he at?
Richard, come on.
Come on!
[overlapping chatter]
You can see it 1,000 times
better right here.
I mean, look at all them people.
How you gonna get by all those
people?
It don't matter.
It's different, Richard.
Yeah, yeah, you know, it's--
it's worse.
It's Dr. Martin Luther King,
Richard, come on.
Come on, y'all, grab the baby.
Let's go.
We gonna miss the damn
speech.
All right, let's go.
Let's go.
Come on, now, hurry up.
Why don't you go on ahead.
No, it's okay, go.
I gotta work anyway.
This ain't no holiday.
Oh, sure it is, man.
Sure it is.
It's Martin Luther King Day.
Yeah.
[laughter]
Richard...
Go on ahead.
Richard!
Y'all go on.
Oh, no, you gonna come with
us.
Sophia, take Sid, now.
I want him to see Dr. King.
Aw, Bean, come on, you can--
Come on, y'all we're gonna be
late.
I don't understand...
Oh, my goodness.
Come on, girl, let's go.
Be careful.
Martin Luther King: Let us
not wallow in the valley of
despair.
[applause]
So even though we face
the difficulties of today and
tomorrow, I still have a dream.
Woman: Yeah!
It is a dream deeply rooted
in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day...
Woman: Yeah!
...this nation will rise up
and live out the true meaning of
its creed.
We hold these truths to be
self-evident that all men are
created equal.
[cheers and applause]
I have a dream that my four
little children will one day
live in a nation where they will
not be judged by the color of
their skin but by the content of
their character.
I have a dream today!
[cheers and applause]
I have a dream that one day,
one day right there in Alabama
little black boys and black
girls will be able to join hands
with little white boys and white
girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
[cheers and applause]
King: This is our hope.
This is the faith that I go back
to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able
to hew out of the mountain of
despair a stone of hope.
With this faith, we will be able
to work together, to pray
together, to struggle together,
to go to jail together, to stand
up for freedom together, knowing
that we will be free one day.
And when we allow freedom ring,
when we let it ring from every
village and every hamlet, from
every state and every city, we
will be able to speed up that
day when all of God's children,
black men and white men, Jews
and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics will be able to join
hands and sing in the words of
the old Negro spiritual, "Free
at last, free at last.
Thank God Almighty, we are free
at last!"
[cheers and applause]
And we gonna swing on
the monkey bars.
I don't know if you can play in
that sandbox, but we gonna try.
Wait, look, here the mailbox.
You see the mailbox?
Let's mail the letters.
Let's mail the letters!
Okay.
Now, this one is to the electric
company.
Put it in there.
They make the stove work.
This to Grandma Jeter.
[baby cooing]
Yeah, that's mymama.
And this is to Grandma Lovin'.
Mail that.
I want them to know how it went
with Mr. King yesterday.
And here, this one.
One more.
There you go.
That's just...
Nothing.
[approaching footsteps]
[door opens]
Whatcha doin' here?
I been laid off.
Oh, no, why?
I don't know.
You know what I'm guessing?
I'm guessing it's because of
the march.
No.
Oh, they think I went.
But you didn't go.
They think I went.
Richard, you can't tell by
that.
No, I can't, just like I
can't tell who turned us into
the sheriff back home...
if anybody did.
But I do know one thing and that
is that I might have worked.
And we got flat nothin' in
the bank, and they're come down
here the end of the month and
put us out on the goddamn
street.
That I can tell you.
[exhales]
[engine revving]
[tires screeching]
Man.
I mean, it's what you do, son.
Hell, I can't drive her.
You can drive her.
Not like you.
No, sir.
Look, if you just need a loan--
No loan.
No.
Damn.
I figure, uh, half the car
and all the work we put in and
all-- right around $2,000.
Probably more.
I don't need it all now.
I ain't got it all now.
You sure you gotta do this?
Yeah.
[tires screeching]
[engine revving]
[engine revving]
[tires screeching]
[women screaming]
Stop it, stop it!
[all shouting]
Stop it!
Richard, stop, goddamn it!
Get in the house!
Get in the house!
Make you feel like a man,
boy, huh?
This a Blue neighborhood, boy!
Yeah, go on in the house.
[glass shatters]
Jesus.
Richard!
Why did you do that for?!
Richard, damn it, get out here!
What did you do that for?
Are you crazy?
You must be going crazy, 'cause
that man, he ain't done nothin'
to you.
Those are my friends, the only
friends I got in this whole ugly
rotten, rotten city.
And you can't-- you ain't
allowed to cause them no harm.
They are my friends.
Your friends, why do you
think those people come over
here in the first place?
'Cause they got nothing better
to do, that's why.
They love to come over here, sit
on their fat asses, and listen
to the country girl from
the boonies tell all our goddamn
family secrets.
That ain't true.
Blue, what the hell's he
think he is, in some goddamn
Sidney Poitier movie?
But he's got you going, doesn't
he?
He can touch you and do--
He don't touch me!
No, he's a goddamn pimp, for
Christ's sake.
Ain't you learn nothin' here?
You!
You ain't learned nothin'.
Who reads the papers in this
house?
Who watches Cronkite in this
house?
Not you.
You tell me what you know about
our civil-rights struggle,
which is what Blue walk on each
and every day of his life.
And because he's colored Negro
and he dress fine, you wanna go
and you wanna call him a pimp.
Well, that is just too damn
ignorant, Richard.
Meanwhile, what do you do with
your life?
You leave me here to set here
all alone.
You don't care about me.
You don't think about me!
All you care about is your
little silly goddamn racecar.
I sold the goddamn car, okay?
I sold the car 'cause I'm a man.
And I take care of my family.
And I work at that job every day
for three years where every
single day they call me "boy."
And I watch you take that
paycheck, go out and buy crap
put on your face, so I'm ashamed
to be seen in public with you.
That ain't it.
That ain't the truth.
I'm gonna tell you exactly why
you don't wanna be seen in
public with me.
It's because you ashamed to be
seen with a black woman.
Richard, don't you walk out on
me!
Richard!
I'm pregnant.
How long this check keep us?
I don't know.
Give you time to find another
job?
I don't know.
What difference does it make?
Were you gonna leave me?
No.
I don't wanna leave you, Bean.
I wanna leave here.
Where you wanna go?
Home.
They put us in jail if they
catch us.
Yeah, I know.
What they do to Sidney?
I don't know.
You have to leave all your
civil-rights stuff and your
friends.
I like my friends.
I love my family.
I miss my family.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think...
it's the only place we can live
together.
[sighs]
Come here.
I think it's the only place in
this whole damn world don't
matter what color we are.
Now, tell me I'm wrong.
Tell me you don't see people
staring at us that way.
Colored, white, don't matter.
All the same.
Your friends, when they first
seen me-- exact same way.
And it ain't true, Bean.
I ain't ashamed of you.
Nope.
I just-- I just can't bring
myself to go out there anymore
with you, have people looking at
us that way.
And you do know that look.
You know that look, Bean.
It's a look that make you feel
like you're...
You know, like you're, uh...
A nigger?
♪♪
♪♪
[scoffs]
Okay, Bean.
Wake up, Sidney.
Wake up, honey boy.
We home.
We home, baby.
[dog barking]
Mama, it's us.
Oh, my God.
Looky here.
Oh, my God!
Man!
Oh, my God!
Hey, man, how you doin'?
Hey, boy.
Look at that.
It's Sidney.
Yeah, he's grown half a foot
since you seen him last.
[laughter]
Whatcha all doin' here?
Yeah, so I mean, you got to
stay inside, though, see.
Y'all got to stay inside.
[overlapping conversation]
Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait.
One sec.
I forgot to tell y'all something
extremely important.
I'm gonna have another baby!
[all exclaiming]
[knock on door]
What?
It's okay, it's okay.
It's just the Lovin's.
I seen 'em come up.
Yeah, well, it's a good thing
we got James Bond over here,
ain't it?
[laughter]
Oh, go to Mama there, baby.
There you go!
All right.
Hello, Ma.
Hey, you remember your
grandmama.
Say hi, Sidney.
Oh.
Say hi, baby.
He's beautiful.
Oh.
[crying]
Bean: There's your grandpa.
[all giggling]
♪♪
Bean: Richard, where you
taking me to?
You know we ain't supposed to be
doing this.
Oh, my Lord.
[scoffs]
Come here.
It's cold.
We're still here, okay?
We never left here.
We never went up there.
We never lived there.
It didn't happen.
Okay?
None of it happened.
Except Sidney.
Except Sidney.
Okay?
Okay.
Okay.
It's them, it's them!
Come on, go, go, go, come on!
Come on, y'all, whatcha
waiting on?
Come on, get outta here!
Come on, let's go!
Let's go!
[Sidney whimpers]
[car starts]
Shh.
[siren blaring]
Hey, now whatcha all doing?
Get back in the house now!
Go on!
Get back in there!
Get out!
No!
[all shouting]
Leave him alone!
He's leaving the state.
Come on.
Bean: Come on, don't hurt
him, please.
Sheriff: Take it easy, little
lady.
[grunting] All right.
[Sidney crying]
Sheriff: Harley, go get
everybody's name in the house
there.
I know every--
Harley!
Come here.
Mama: Where are you taking
Richard?
What are you doing?
You know what I gotta do,
don't you?
[panting]
Oh, don't you look at me like
that, boy.
Did I call you all up and say,
"Come on down, we changed
the laws down here"?
Dumb.
Dumb!
Honest to freakin' God, now I
gotta haul you all up to
Greensville for a year inside.
I mean, that's gonna open your
eyes, boy.
[Sidney whimpering]
Damn, with all the
nice-lookin' white girls in this
county, why did you have to go
and marry one of them?
[spits]
Here.
Now listen good, you hear me?
I'm gonna make you a deal.
I'm gonna let you off.
And her, too.
If-- now, there ain't no deal
comes for free.
You gotta end the marriage.
That's the deal.
End it.
Over and done.
Never happened.
I guarantee the judge will be
more than happy to grant you
an annulment.
A little birdy told me.
Okay?
That's the deal.
No negotiatin', no nothin'.
End the marriage.
Or get in the cruiser.
I'm giving you the choice, son.
I don't see there's much choice
in it.
Can I at least discuss this
with my wife?
I expect you're gonna have
to, son.
[door slams]
He asleep?
Yeah.
Good.
He says he'll let us go.
[sighs]
The thing is, uh...
we, uh, we--
The deal is...
we split up.
What?
Yeah.
Split up.
Call it off.
He says, uh, he says the old
son-of-a-bitch judge would be
happy to do it.
And I bet he will.
Bet he will.
But that's...
that's the deal, Bean.
Or we go to jail.
Now, it means, it means you can
stay here.
Just like you used to before.
Like--
Like it didn't happen.
[knock on window]
Richard?
Hang on tight.
[car starts]
All: Go, go!
Go, go!
[all shouting]
[siren blaring]
Go!
♪♪
[siren continues]
Go, Richard, go!
[siren continues]
[tires squealing]
Come on, come on.
[siren continues]
[siren continues]
Wait!
[tires squealing]
[screaming]
Richard!
[siren continues]
Aah!
[laughing]
[cackling]
We did it!
Go, Richard, go!
Catch me now, you
son-of-a-bitch cop!
Catch me now.
[car doors slam]
[sighs]
[children playing]
I'll get the baby.
Sophia: Oh, my goodness.
Where you all been to?
Hey, Sophia.
Some man come by for you.
What did he say?
Y'all settle down now.
Huh?
What'd the man tell you?
Oh, he just lookin' for you
is all.
No, but did he, uh, did he
say...
Did he say he was from
the police?
The what, honey?!
[Sidney whimpering]
Come on, honey boy, now don't
spray it all over.
Here-- oh.
[Sidney whimpering]
I gotta find me a job.
Worry about that tomorrow.
Better worry about it today.
You got any money?
Well, we got nearly a hundred
in the bank.
Oh!
Well, let's buy us a Cadillac.
A red one.
Hell, a convertible.
With white walls.
[knock on door]
You take the baby.
Go in the back.
[Sidney whimpering]
Shh, shh.
[knock on door]
Mr. Loving?
Richard Loving?
My name is Bernie Cohen.
I gave my card to your neighbor.
You weren't here before, so,
uh...
Is this a convenient time?
See, the thing is that I'm so
busy these days, I can only come
by after work.
See?
I'd ask you to my office, but
it's in Virginia, you know, so.
Is your wife here?
She's the one who actually sent
the letter.
What letter?
Letter, the one, uh, Bobby
Kennedy.
Bean!
Bernie: So, um, you sent the
letter, right, to Bobby Kennedy,
and his office, they go through
all his mail and they-- well,
they read yours and they
forwarded it onto the ACLU
office in New York because there
isn't one here, though there
will be, you know.
But anyway, I guess you could
call me a stringer for the ACLU.
Um, I have my own practice.
You looking for a divorce?
I'm kidding.
[chuckles]
Kidding.
Uh, but anyway, I do as much
pro bono work as I can for them.
I believe in them, and I'd like
to work full-time for them, but
I just got married.
And I bought a house, and
the mortgage is killing me.
So, so, so, so.
So!
I told them, "Sure."
I just, you know, come by and
meet you two, get the story, and
see if there's anything, any
legal basis that I can help you
with, okay?
You from the police?
Uh, the ACLU, the American
Civil Liberties Union.
I'm sorry, I thought-- well,
the letter, your letter,
Mrs. Loving, was so eloquent
that I-- I thought you were
familiar with the legal...
you know, the legal stuff.
But you know what, that's not
important.
I'm a lawyer.
I'm here to help you.
The end.
"Dear Mr. Kennedy, yesterday I
seen Dr. King speak.
I'm sure you seen it, too, and
recall him talking about his
dream that in our country, white
folks and black folks should
have the right to join their
hands together.
I'm a Negro woman, and my
husband Richard is a white man.
They arrested us because it is
against the law in Virginia for
us to marry.
The judge made us leave the
state, and now we live here in
Washington, and we don't like
it.
I don't think it's anybody
else's business who I marry as
long as it don't hurt anybody.
And we never hurt anybody in all
our lives.
Can you please help us?
Sincerely yours, Mildred
Loving."
Did you both compose this?
Uh, no, no, she--
Well...
you certainly...
This definitely got everybody's
attention.
But for me to help you, I have
to hear the whole story.
So just begin at the beginning,
and I'm just gonna sit right
here and I'm not gonna say
anything.
I'm just gonna listen.
Okay?
Well, I--
Go ahead.
I known Richard all my life.
And, uh, we started seeing each
other and a while after, I--
She didn't know it was
against the law, see, so I
brought her here to get married.
Because I knew we couldn't do it
back home.
And on our wedding night,
that very same night, they come
right in our bedroom.
Now, we was naked.
They came right in and took us
to jail and left us there.
They let Richard out the next
morning.
Wouldn't talk to me, wouldn't
even look at me.
You know, I asked them as they
letting us out, and they just
walk on by, slam the door, left
me in another week.
Now, it wasn't my fault, see?
I told them to let her out.
She didn't even know why she was
in there.
They didn't tell me.
They didn't tell me nothin' till
the trial.
Didn't let me take no shower.
Didn't give me no clean dress.
It wasn't no real trial
anyway.
The old judge they had, he slept
through most of it.
He had his mind made up anyway.
He gave some speech about God
or something.
What'd he say?
He said, "God made the races
separate on purpose," or some
kind of bull, see?
And then he sentenced us to one
year--
One to three.
That's right, in prison.
And then he said he'd suspend it
if we left the state.
For 25 years.
Twenty-five years in this
place!
Now, think about it.
Think about that!
I'd like to see that judge spend
25 days right here.
And then, so, we, we...
We came here.
And, uh...
That's it.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Um, thank you.
That was, uh, very clear and...
clear!
That was-- that was...
very clear.
I'd like to... to think about it
and, um, then, um, I'll get back
to you.
Okay?
Uh, thank you.
Okay, okay, okay, all right.
This is what it is.
I'm, uh, I'm like 95% sure about
this, but what we have here is
a Supreme Court case.
[exhales]
TheSupreme Court, you know,
the one down the road?
I don't mean the State Supreme
Court, I mean-- we do have to go
to the State first.
You can't go to the Supreme
Court without first going to
the State.
But that's, that's nothing.
That's a formality.
Hold on, hold on, hold on.
I'm 28 and I have a Supreme
Court case.
You know, you talk about
building a practice.
But, um, anyway...
let me just tell you, what they
did to you... they can't do.
Yeah, but they, uh--
No, I, I, I don't care if
there's some law in some state
which says they can.
According to the Constitution of
the United States of America,
they can't do it.
Believe me, it's a law from
like-- it's one of the last
chains from the slave days.
It won't stand the test.
It's gonna go down, you know,
like a bomb.
Boom!
Okay.
What we have to do is we have to
go back to the same court.
We have to start all over again.
And we're gonna lose all over
again.
But that is exactly what we want
because-- and this is the beauty
of it-- because this is
a civil-rights case.
So the Supreme Court, the feds
here, they have to hear it.
They can't pass on it.
It will go to them.
Your case is gonna go to
the Supreme Court.
And it'll be overturned.
All these racist laws will be
wiped off the books.
But does that mean that we--
Oh, yes, yes, I'm sorry.
You know what, I, I--
Please, um, understand, I'm 28,
you know, and this is the
biggest thing that can happen to
a lawyer.
I said that already, didn't I?
Whoo, I'm sorry.
It means that your sentence is
gone.
It's over.
And there's no ridiculous
medieval banishment, no prison,
no nothing.
You go back home together.
Free at last.
Believe me.
Thank you.
Thank you.
It's my pleasure.
It's my honor.
All right, well, that's all.
That's all I can think of for
right now.
So, um, it's-- oh, great.
I'm late again as usual.
Um, thank you.
It's-- it's been, uh...
How long you think it'll
take?
Oh, uh, well, with a case
like this, uh, you'd have to
file for each one.
You have to wait for a court
date, and there's the research
and the papers.
Um...
[exhales]
You want the truth?
Mm-hmm.
A long time.
How long?
Years.
And you have to be model
citizens the whole time.
You have to obey the laws.
And you have to stay here.
But, but...
if you can do that...
I will win this case for you.
I will.
It's a promise.
Look, here's my card.
It's got my number on there to
office and home.
All right?
Call me.
Will you call me?
Okay.
Listen...
trust me.
Okay.
[panting]
What, Bean?
Oh, God, Richard, he said
the Supreme Court.
Yeah, he said a lot of things
fast.
Well, doesn't that mean--
I mean, if he's right and if
he's good.
Yeah, if he can stand it up
here.
Yeah, then we could go back
home... together with our
babies.
And they couldn't do a thing
about it, could they?
I don't know.
But I'd love to see it.
I'd love to see that skinny old
son-of-a-bitch judge just stand
there and watch us walk down
the street, just like that.
Just like we own it.
And him not allowed to open his
mean, old wrinkled mouth.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I'd love to see that,
boy.
I could die after I seen that.
Hmm.
Call him.
Bean, it's 2:00 in
the morning.
Please?
♪♪
That's what I'll do.
["Turn, Turn, Turn" begins]
♪ To everything
♪ Turn, turn, turn
♪ There is a season
♪ Turn, turn, turn
♪ And a time to every purpose
♪ Under heaven
♪ A time to be born
♪ A time to die
♪ A time to plant
♪ A time to reap
♪ A time to kill
♪ A time to heal
♪ A time to laugh
♪ A time to weep
♪ To everything
♪ Turn, turn, turn
♪ There is a season
♪ Turn, turn, turn
♪ And a time to every purpose
♪ Under heaven
♪ A time to build up
♪ A time to break down
♪ A time to dance
♪ A time to mourn
♪ A time to cast away stones
♪ A time to gather stones
♪ Together... ♪
[music continues]
Bean: Hey.
How you doing?
Oh, my gosh, this Sidney and
Donald?
You boys are getting so big.
Stand up here.
Oh, my gosh, you're getting so
big and heavy.
What are you guys building
there?
How's everything?
We all right.
Richard here?
Yeah, he inside watching
sports.
I think you should get him.
Sidney, go tell your daddy
Mr. Cohen come.
Bernie, Bernie.
How's Becky doing?
Oh, I just got her to sleep.
Oh, she's sleeping.
Mr. Cohen.
Bernie, Bernie.
[sighs]
Okay.
Huh?
That's it.
That's your day in court.
I told you.
You did.
Yeah, you did.
It only took, uh...
Three years and eight months.
Three years, eight months.
Really?
Wow.
[exhales]
So...
you're invited, you know.
It's a show.
Really, it's...
It's history.
Don't you wanna hear me give my
speech?
Oh, yeah, sure we do, uh,
Mr. Cohen.
It's just, uh...
well...
I don't think we could stand
being there.
Okay.
Richard: Mr. Cohen?
Thank you.
All right.
[chorus humming]
That these are the most
odious laws to come before this
court.
They are not concerned with
racial integrity or with racial
supremacy.
They rob the Negro race of its
dignity.
And only a decision which will
reach the full body of these
laws of the state of Virginia
will change that.
If the framers had intended to
exclude anti-miscegenation
statutes, it would have taken
but a single phrase in the 14th
Amendment to do so.
But there is none.
The language meant to include
equal protection for Negroes.
And with that equal protection
comes the right to marry as any
other human being has the right
to marry.
And that is the right of Richard
and Mildred Loving.
To wake up in the morning, to go
to sleep at night knowing...
that the sheriff will not be
knocking on their door...
or shining a light in their
faces in the privacy of their
bedroom.
No matter how we attempt to
emphasize the enormity of the
injustices under this Virginia
statute, no one can articulate
it better than Richard Loving
when he said to me, "Mr. Cohen,
tell the court I love my wife
and that it is just unfair.
And I can't live with her...
back home...
in Virginia."
I thank the Court.
[chorus continues humming]
♪ People, get ready
♪ There's a train a comin'
♪ You don't need no baggage
♪ You just get onboard
♪ All you need is faith
♪ To hear the diesel comin'
♪ You don't need no ticket
♪ You just thank the Lord
[chorus humming]
♪ People, get ready
♪ There's a train to Jordan
♪ It's pickin' up passengers
♪ Coast to coast
♪ Faith is the key
♪ To open the doors
♪ And board it
♪ But there's room for wrong
♪ Among those loved the most
♪ There ain't no room
♪ For you hopeless sinners
♪ Who has spent all mankind
♪ Just to save his own
♪ Believe me now
♪ Have pity on those y'all
♪ Whose chances grow thinner
♪ But there's no hiding place
♪ Against the kingdom's throne
♪ So people, get ready
♪ There's a train a comin'
♪ You don't need no baggage
♪ You just get onboard
♪ All you need is faith
♪ To hear the diesel comin'
♪ You don't need no ticket
♪ You just thank
♪ The... Lord ♪
♪♪