Mildred Loving

Mildred Loving has died at the age of 68, her daughter told. She did not disclose the cause of death. Mildred Loving had challenged to Virginia's ban on interracial marriage which later led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide.

Mildred Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states. They had married in Washington in 1958, when she was 18.

The vote was running 59 percent to 41 percent, with 58 percent of the voted counted. The vote removed the dubious distinction of Alabama being the only state in the country with such a relic from the segregated South remaining in its constitution. Apparently, more than a third of the voters did vote to keep a constitutional ban on interracial marriage.