life:

On March 18, 1966, LIFE magazine published a feature under the quietly chilling headline, “The Crime of Being Married.”

The article, illustrated with photographs by LIFE’s Grey Villet, told the story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a married interracial couple battling Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws. Villet’s warm, intimate pictures revealed a close-knit family, including children and grandparents, living their lives in opposition to a patently unjust law — but also captured eloquent moments, gestures and expressions that affirmed just how heavily their defiance weighed on the very private couple.

This gallery, meanwhile, published in celebration of both Valentine’s Day and a 45-year-old Supreme Court decision that, in effect, codified the right of men and women to simply love whom they choose, features recently rediscovered Grey Villet photographs of the Lovings, their family and their friends, along with the text of the original magazine story.

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