“I am proud that Richard’s and my name is on a court case that can help reinforce the love, the commitment, the fairness, and the family that so many people, black or white, young or old, gay or straight seek in life.”
- Mildred Loving
ERASED
LESSONS ON MILDRED’S AMERICAN DREAM
Mildred and Richard Loving, an interracial couple, faced legal trouble in Virginia due to their marriage. They moved to D.C. but their dream was for their marriage to be recognized back home in Virginia. Their fight led to the landmark Loving v. Virginia Supreme Court case, overturning the interracial marriage ban.
Despite the case leading the way for many others to get married, in 2021, Selina Alto’s picture book about their story, The Case for Loving, was banned from Pennsylvania classrooms.
Beyond Mildred, there are other dreamers who have gone missing or are at risk of going missing.
Indigenous peoples whose ancestors were pushed off their native lands dream of reclaiming not just land but their values, culture, language and more.
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story, a children’s book written by Kevin Noble Maillard, discusses how fry bread became part of Native American diets after they were forced from their land and given limited rations by the United States government. It was banned in both Pennsylvania and Florida schools.
Latiné actors, directors and other professionals dreaming of being in the entertainment industry continue to struggle with being seen on both TV and movie screens. In the past 15 years, less than 5% of 52,000 Latiné actors held speaking parts and only 4.2 of the top-grossing films between 2007–2019 identified as Latiné.
Audre Lorde dreamed of showing people that they were more than just “Black” or “Women,” but could be so many things, while also working to support various liberation movements.
Her book, Sister Outsider, was banned by Tennessee administrators in 2022.