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The movie ‘Loving,’ scheduled to be released this Friday, tells the story of an interracial couple in Virginia whose court case declared Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act unconstitutional. Richard Loving, a white man, married Mildred Jeter in violation of Virginia law, and the movie portrays her as a black woman.
However, Mark Loving, who was raised by his grandmother, claims that there is no evidence of her having black ancestry, but rather that she had Native American roots. NBC reports Mark’s explanation of his grandmother’s identity:
“I know during those times, there were only two colors: white and blacks,” said Loving. “But she was Native American, both of her parents were Native American. Mark says his grandmother always identified as Rappahannock Indian. If you doubt him, look no further than Richard and Mildred’s original D.C. marriage license, which is available online from the Smithsonian. It clearly reads, Richard Perry Loving – white – Mildred Delores Jeter – Indian.
The marriage license is below:
Furthermore, Time reported that in a 2008 interview with Arica L. Colman, Loving blatantly stated that she was not black.
“I am not black,” she told me during a 2004 interview. “I have no black ancestry. I am Indian-Rappahannock. I told the people so when they came to arrest me.”
These revelations raise several questions. If you look at Mildred Loving, most would automatically assume she is a black woman. While the myth that many African Americans have significant Native American ancestry has been debunked (Science reported that the average African American has only 0.8% Native American ancestry), it is reported that Loving’s parents were both part Native American, specifically Rappahannock and Cherokee. But every resource detailing the infamous marital court case includes African American in Loving’s ancestry as well. When she and her husband met as teens, Loving was attending an all-black school.
It seems confusing, and perhaps disappointing, that Loving does not claim her black ancestry, given that at the time, both African Americans and Native Americans faced harsh racism. And many see Mildred as a strong Civil Rights activist of the time due to her and her husband’s nine year court battle to be legally married. But what’s even more confusing is why Hollywood would choose to erase her Native American ancestry when she identified with it so strongly.
The official website for “Loving” (quoted below) summarizes the film without blatantly stating the race of either Richard Loving or Mildred Jeter, but many sites covering the movie clearly describe Richard as white and Mildred as black.
From acclaimed writer/director Jeff Nichols, Loving celebrates the real-life courage and commitment of an interracial couple, Richard and Mildred Loving (Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga), who married and then spent the next nine years fighting for the right to live as a family in their hometown. Their civil rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court, which in 1967 reaffirmed the very foundation of the right to marry – and their love story has become an inspiration to couples ever since.
Could it be that Hollywood finds a more black and white (figuratively and literally) story more appealing, or was it an oversight? Or, could it be that the film will at least mention Mildred’s Native American ancestry?
Mark Loving also stated that if she were alive today, his grandmother would “be insulted that she was racially profiled as someone she wasn’t.” That seems a bit harsh and hints at anti-black undertones, especially since it has been revealed that the Cherokee tribe was part of group that adopted the colonial practice of slavery.
So BGLH readers, what are your thoughts on these recent finding regarding the love story of Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving? Do you plan on seeing the film?
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It’s an interesting bit of information, but both of these people are dead and gone.
Side eye to Mrs Loving. There is obviously a bit of denial here, for whatever reason. I’d love to see Henry Louis Gates look at her ancestry.
The interesting thing here is that Native Americans were originally Black people exiled from what is now India in Asia 16,000 years ago. After the Yellow race settled into many parts of East Asia and SE Asia, they came over the Bering Strait and across the Pacific to conquer and mix with them. Producing the people we call Amerindians, etc. today. Any genetic testing will not complete show what is Black African, what is Asian Indian, nor what is Asian today.
Mrs. Loving was part Rappahannock, but she had Black blood too. That’s not unusual in this part of Va., and neither is her attitude. My grandparents on both sides claimed the very same thing. I did my 23andme test, but I was only 9% Native American.
I would like to see the movie. They should’ve plainly stated her race and not as black in spite of her looks.
Both her parents were Rappahannock Indian.
Or so she said. Where are the documents identifying ethnicity at birth
It’s on her birth certificate.. LOL
Nope it just means she was born/raised on a reservation. She could easily have gotten tax breaks and money from the land. But she would’ve had to do a Dan test. She didn’t.
That’s not the way things work with Virginia tribes. We don’t have any reservation OR citizenship rights(as it pertains to a treaty). Our ancestors were enslaved before the Africans got here. That only applies to The 5 Civilized Nations. Here your ancestors MUST be from very specific families who lived together in communities(not reservations) isolated from most of society. We were once classified as Negroes and Mulattos, but our tribes did intermarry with the Free Colored Mulattos
Yes, I know that now.
Part Rappahannock, she has black too
Puhlease, the woman was black. Maybe she had some self-hatred but there’s no hiding that she was black as you and me. *Kisses teeth*
The One Drop Rule may have played a part here. However, her Native Ancestry would have been appropriate IF she had been raised in the tribe. She was not practicing self hatred. In fact, Down South, if a baby was born of Indian Blood, often the midwife would have to write,”Negro” or lose her license.
That woman has no Indian hair. Its black and kinky
Exactly. Probably permed or used a hot iron to straighten it before her hubby got up every morning to keep up the ‘I’m mixed’ lie. Honestly, black women like her make me sick. Clearly the self hatred has filtered through to her next generation if her grandson is wearing that native american choker you can buy for cheap probably at Walmart,as if its proof they are native American. SMDH
Aboriginal..ndians had varied textures of hair
I have actually met Black Indians traveling with their tribes who have kinky hair. And they are Indian. If you pass them on the street, you would not think anything but Black, but they are Indian and their tribe recognizes them as such. This, I have seen
In the documentary (The Loving Story, 2011) I’ve watched about the couple it was said she grew up on the Indian reservation, if I remember correctly.
I saw their story some years ago, and I believe she and he grew up within a mile of each other and the families were friends. If she had grown up on the rez, she would have had to attend school on the rez and he would have be prohibited from attending there
I’ll have to double check, but even if the lived close to each other they still could have gone to different school (segregation).
Gosh! I’m glad someone said it.
Ruth Negga, the woman depicting her in the movie is multiracial. She’s ethiopian and Irish. So I don’t think they are ignoring Mildred’s multiracial background. It’s actual this article that is ignoring Negga’s racial makeup.
I thought about it. BUt they did a made for TV movie and had an episode of without a trace about them. And she sounds rather anti-Black so I’m not interested.
I agree. I get the feeling that she is trying to disassociate with her obvious black heritage. Although I understand the climate of that time period, no thanks!
chile cheese ….look at her hair ……………………………………..
I’ve NEVER seen an Indian with a press n curl!
This is news to me as an Africology major, soooo I feel like, it’s great to hear it now if that is how she truly identified. However, I’ve learned for soooo long that this was a ground breaking case for blacks and whites, I assuming her to be a lighter skinned black woman. I honestly feel that it doesn’t change much of the story. It just challenges us to interrogate further the information that we receive. I’ll be there watching the movie as planned. Interesting that we are finding out as #NODAPL is trending…
And you know, a lot of light-skinned Blacks look like her or resemble her.
I’d recommend watching “The Loving Story” a 2011 documentary about the case. From what Remember it is said that she grew up on an Indian reservation. The photos and video interviews with the Lovings during their trial. I’d watch that (bought the documentary) before watching the movie.
This proves my point if you are black or brown they think you’re Mexican or African.I don’t know why people of color don’t ban together.As far as they are considered you aren’t white or Asian you must be black.
If the woman wanted to identify as something other than black, then LET HER! Why are black folks so hard up for people to join the club that we’re bent on forcing people who obviously hate blackness to claim blackness? Let all those who want out of the race take a swift exit so the rest of us can deal with matters that actually BENEFIT black lives.
science is a lie, native Indians and black people are the same, the bible tells you that, they always trying to separate us, don’t believe the lie people
Don’t be ridiculous-nowhere does the Bible say specifically what you are implying,for one they are the Indian race not the black race-you people have to stop claiming others,if biracials are half black and not considered black to all,then Natives certainly are not.
Who doesn’t consider biracials black? Don’t we call Obama our first black president, he’s biracial.
President Obama identifies as black. It is his choice.
There are many people that call him black but also many that see him as a half,white person -the fact remains-he isn’t black but biracial,no matter what way he see’s himself.
The bible doesn’t say anything like that…
Fun fact though, the bible does speak out against interracial/intercultural relationships (“do not marry that of a foreign land”) but this was in the 1st testimont and was dome so briefly
It always amazes me how people can quickly regurgitate the nonsense of the European bible SMDH.
I take it gore o Motswana, so you must know better than that. I want Africans to emancipate themselves from the gibberish written by Europeans in order to subjugate them in their own lands. The sooner you free yourself from religion the better off you will be as a human being.
You are not rightly dividing God’s word. The prohibition against marrying foreigners was because God did not want the Israelites intermarrying with the pagan nations around them and thus worshiping the false gods/idols of those nations. It had nothing to do with God trying to prevent race mixing. And anyone who says that the Bible is the white man’s book sounds ridiculous and ignorant. The Tanakh was written by Jews and so was the New Testament. Jews are middle eastern. No white man wrote that book – although people later translated it into other languages.
maybe she is native american but its also clear that shes black as well but who i am to define someone elses race?…but this story is not even a sweet love story are we gonna ignore the fact that this grown man was lusting after an 15/16 year old girl? im js……i really feel like hollywood is trying push black women to date interacially..i think its propaganda thats why they dont want to mention her claims of being indian nor focus on her young age.
Britt – how is it “clear” that she is black, when her marriage license shows she is native american/Indian? That makes not sense. I think many of us have a narrow perception of what a native american person looks like.
In her letter to Robert Kennedy, she identifies herself as “part Negro and part Indian.”
About a year ago, my husband, son, and I were in a car accident. My husband is white and Native American, I am black, our son is multiracial. The police asked me which race I wanted to list our son as, because they could only check one box. The marriage license listing her as “Indian” does not mean she is not Black. The option to choose more than one race is not always been available, and there are cases where it still is not.
She looks like people I know or have met that self identify as black.
It’s not comparable. If she said she wasn’t African, okay, but she is black. She has the melanin, hair texture, and phenotype.
She was 11 and he was 18. She was pregnant at 14 or 15.
She was born in 1939 and was 18 or 19 when she got pregnant and married. You can view the 1940 census online. He was born in 1933 so he was 24 or 25 when the got married.
My grandma was sixteen when she married my granddaddy (26). Most people know that prior to the 1970’s it was absolutely socially acceptable for women to marry young.
The were sweet on each other when she was 11 and he was 17. At about 14 she had a child. 6 year age difference. This was the 1960s. Not a big deal at all.
Richard was only six years older than Mildred.
once you realize “black” along with “race” is a social construct invented by supremacist with the intent to divide ppl through a colorist view you will begin to understand the confusion. Once Native Americans stop acting like Africans were not here living a tribal lifestyle way before European colonialism, because they want to assume land rights and exclude any other person of color the confusion will stop. Once people understand that not African Americans were brought over on slave ships and “others” and “mixed” people and cultures are used as buffers for white supremacy and it’s views finding incentives to… Read more »
If you understand it’s a social construct invented by supremacist with the intent to divide ppl through a colorist view, how can you then attack Native Americans? Aren’t the supremacists ultimately to blame?
No.
That is exactly what I just commented. People are very ignorant and need to wake up. We think we know it all but we have been raped of the truth and the more we choose not to acknowledge the more the truth is warped and we loose are rights and sense of self. Though I believe truth comes to light no matter how hard efforts are made to hide it.
There was a lot of miscegenation between Native American, Black, and White to the point that many of today’s light skinned Blacks and dark skinned Blacks have Native American ancestry. Millions of White also have Native American ancestry such as Kim Basinger and Kevin Bacon and Carrie Underwood. People tend to classify you according to how you look. Yet many people have been mistaken for Asian, Native American, Hispanic who are light-skinned Blacks. Genetics can be very tricky and just because you have African ancestry and/or Native American ancestry does not mean that you will always look a certain way.… Read more »
Every time a Black person passed for White they say they are Native or Italian. And when a White person does a dna they find out no Native or Italian blood but Black. Everyone underestimate or forgets that the Natives were whipped out across the world.
This idea that many blacks have native american ancestry has been debunked by widespread genetic testing.
I have lived in America for 25 years and noticed that when I meet Blacks they are always quick to point out that they are mixed with something that is not obvious when you are looking at them. It must be a heavy burden to carry around all the time hating your genetic makeup. I recently met a beautiful Black woman named Joy with a short afro and beautiful dark skin – within 30 minutes she tells me she had a white grandmother. #sad
I agree, but its a topic that comes up so often. Even I’m used to explaining my genetic make-up. Both of my parents are dark skinned and I’m light skinned. I have to explain that every times someone looks at me and says “your not black because your too light” or “your mom was fucking around and your mixed” bullshit.
This use to happen to my brother who is light skin. The white people use to call him half breed and whilst he was on a trip in America a brother refuse to believe both of his parents are black.
Many Whites that I meet claims “Cherokee”….
As a mixed person, we are sick and tired of one side telling us what we are. We do NOT have to choose and that does NOT mean we are ashamed; it means you and nobody else decides for us to ignore part of the beautiful mosaic that we are.
I agree. I’d say the same about West Indians here in London, UK. I’ve also met a very dark skinned Jamaican woman who stared at me(A Southern African) for the longest time when I stated categorically and factually that I am a 100% African blood. I guess she was confused as to why I was much lighter than her yet proud of my African roots. She proceeded to tell me about some phantom white or mixed grandmother in her family. It cracked me the hell up. I think people from slave roots have such deep inferiority complexes it very tragic.… Read more »
I have to say that with parents from the Caribbean (I hate the term West Indian) many are uneducated on the diversity of African people in general and seem to be fixated on skin tone. On the other hand you also displayed similar ignorance as she may well have had a white grandmother. My mother also dark skinned had a grandmother who was half white, it’s not unusual. My cousin who’s mother is white has a child who is dark skinned, same complexion as Naomi Campbell. It must look odd to people when they see the grandmother and granddaughter out… Read more »
Ok, but don’t force people to see something that is not evident whatsoever. I don’t give a crap whether she ‘may’ have a mixed grandmother(you see your own ignorance, how you still want to attach yourself to whiteness, even hypothetically) the fact is people see a dark girl and they don’t a crap what her parentage is. We are judged on our appearance, period, such is the society will live in.It makes me sick when people think because of my light skin I must be mixed, its them showing their inferiority complex. The Khoisan of Southern Africa are the the… Read more »
I’ve lived here all my life and there are a lot of us who DON’T do that. I’m dark-skinned, currently wearing a short ‘fro, and outside of academic curiosity could care less about my non-African ancestors. That said, like a lot of AA families, mine has branches that have more pronounced European ancestry. As one of the main historian/genealogists I can always count on at least one of my cousins asking if I’ve “found anything” about the white man/men who gave them their light complexion. Here’s the thing though: Although we know there were at least two, we know NOTHING… Read more »
What I have found is people are very apt to point out to black people they must have nonAfrican ancestry if they have features they don’t consider “black.” They want to know what are you and if you say black they are not satisfied. Many people seem to feel entitled to an explanation for how people look. I know exactly who my non black ancestors were and have photos of many but that doesn’t compel me to discuss it. I have an uncle who is dark while the rest of his siblings are near white in skin tone and people… Read more »
For the record I don’t ask people about their race. I think its classless to do so. In Brasil (where I am from) we never ask a person their race. You may ask them what region they are from or even about their religion but not usually about their racial makeup. To offer it up on ones own makes them appear quite insecure from an outsider’s opinion.
You dont ask because its based on who can pass. If you’re lighter enough you win at life – that’s not mych better. Colorism is wrong as well.
Saying what you are mixed is has no bearing on what people see – colorism or not. You win at life by what you define as a win. Being and doing the best that you can with the opportunities you have should count. Unfortunately most people want to define what success looks like instead of putting in the hard work it takes to be successful and letting it speak for itself. #notmypresident
I know how it works in Brazil. And I didn’t say mix, I said pass – that’s a big difference. If you mother is Black or Brown or mix and has a child that can pass that child’s life is 100% different in Brazil and South America and the Caribe. There is no way to fake success – not long term anyway, but if you don’t look like the hated group you able to use your talents (if you have them) and get helping hands along the way. If you look like the hated group you use your talents and… Read more »
Yes, this is because in America White people ask your racial make up within monents of speaking to you and try and touch your hair.
Yes black people question each other about where they are from because not all “blacks” are the same. We come from different areas of the world like other races so its a curiosity. Because of the “one drop rule” black people are considered black especially if they “look” it enough and if at anytime they try to say they are mixed they are “begging” it. Well if they are mixed then they should be proud to say it. Just like a white person can say they are french russian and irish. What’s the problem in her saying she is from… Read more »
She fought for what she believed in and won…it was a win for all of us, that’s the focus and that’s exactly why I can’t wait to see the movie. Now I must admit that I get a bit perturbed when anyone vehemently insists on being disassociated from African American ancestry HOWEVER; with my newly acquired knowledge of Native American history, struggles and survival…I don’t blame the grandson for speaking out about his grandma’s heritage. She made it possible for my parents to move our family to Maryland where it was not legal when I was born, sketchy at best,… Read more »
Who’s to say her grandson is telling the truth. Over the years no one else has heard this from her, and she was interviewed numerous times I’m sure.
Her marriage license…
I am not talking about the marriage license. We are aware of what’s on it. I was speaking on what her grandson said she said. How do we know those sentiments were hers? Because he said so? Her marriage license doesn’t automatically infer she had any issues with her being called something she was not, as she lived for years after and we never heard of any disparagind remarks until now, after her death.
It’s in the article. She said she wasn’t black in the interview.
How was Hollywood expected to know when so many of us didn’t? And as to why? Duh, capital gains far outweigh critical acclaim and they certainly override the truth in the entertainment industry, anyway. As for Mrs. Loving, who are we to say? And it most certainly isn’t fair to condemn her as self-hating or prejudiced when she only wanted to be recognized for who she believed she was.
Personally who cares? Black or Indian the case was won and changed history.
Wake up people. There are more than 2 colors, black and white. There is much diversity inbetween. They should have features her true heritage in this movie. It would have been interesting to understand this native tribe that I’ve never heard of
If true-it would be sad now but back then,she probably had more rights in claiming her herself Native American, you have to remember people were denied hospital treatment if they were black,billie holidays father died back then for this very reason.-its quite clear she has black in her and they wouldn’t have gave her the status of being a Native back then anyway when Natives sure would not claim her.the one drop of black blood ruled then and she does look black.
I’m sure the situation varied from place to place. I spoke to a Choctaw woman who told me what her family went through during Jim Crow not living on a reservation. They had to go to the back door of every business just like black people. And were treated like crap by whites just like blacks. She also said there were three schools in her community. One black. One white. One NA. The black and white went to 12th grade but the NA only went to 8th. So being NA there meant you had no opportunity to get a high… Read more »
Well,look at the situation today,these people who are the indigenous folk of America-the country which does NOT belong to the white but to the natives through heritage,have been driven out of society and so their population has lessened which is sad-nobody today,I believe is speaking out about this as Caucasians have once again took over and colonized a country as their own.
It seems back in the day,that anyone with a hint of brown to their skin suffered the same fate.
Just demonstrates that race as a social construct is stupid due to the ambiguity and, reiterates that race is distinct from ethnicity. If you are not white, it makes you “other,” and the Commonwealth of Virginia had anti-miscegenation laws and based on societal norms regarding race, prosecuted them for breaking the law. I guess it was okay there to lay up with black women (Thomas Jefferson) and have mix-raced children but do not dare marry them.
There is in existence a 60 minutes interview Ed Bradley conducted with Lena Horne where she said her family identified as black because it was safer than admitting you were Indian.
No way was Lena Native American. I know some of her relatives. Another deluded black woman. Never saw her cast as a NA in a western, did ya’?
No but I’ve never seen a Native American woman cast either. You must only know her African American relatives as she was also European American & Native American on both sides of her family.
Obviously she had European blood. Lena Horne was NOT majority Native American. Ed Bradley should have called her on it but of course, he was not a hard hitter and that was not his style. Her cousin never spoke of Lena having NA blood. Perhaps she did, but more than likely she was just mixed with European. Her nose job also purposely made her look less black.
So where did the surname ‘Jeter’ come from? That is my father’s last name but with a G.
I’m sure that’s a french name. It means to throw.
Couldn’t they just complete an ancestry.com or genetic ancestry test…
They did she’s 83.2% African and no Native by the grandsons account. HE has all the Native blood at 11% hence the Walmart Native choker.
I laughed so hard at “the Walmart Native choker”. No disrespect to the grandson.
This is very interesting. To me, this matters not (other than the woman was not able to self-identify, like so many of us still). This couple changed so many lives for the better.
When we were researching our family genealogy, we knew the names of most of ournative ancestors, but we wanted pictures, if any could be found. What we saw was everything we imagined America could aspire to be: an entire conglomerate of people ranging from the darkest black to the palest white and everything in between. Native sisters, one married white, The other a black man with a very dark complexion who was my great, great grandfather. Nobody saw color the way the white man did and it was beautiful. Yes, Mildred Loving was a black woman with native heritage. But… Read more »
Beautifully written and so honest and true. Thank yo!
That is so sad and I hate it. The black race is gonna die soon because of so much self hatred and fetish of lightskin babies. smh
So very true, Riak. We will be bred out of existence within the next 4 or 5 generations. The media is pushing this so that whites will retain power. They have continued to find ways to divide and conquer us and we have not stood strong. Weak, insecure black men are particularly vulnerable to this calculated manipulation. Mixed people will largely marry lighter and whiter. Black looking black people will become rare and those left will be marginalized by white looking mixed people. These people will deny or minimalize their black heritage and consider themselves white, except of course when… Read more »
Just a note…
We “light skinned babies” didn’t apply for the position anymore than you applied for yours. So stop hating.
As far as I’m concerned, the death of race will be a blessing. I’m sick of it. Race has always been a lie and after 400 yrs it’s time people stop buying into it.
Well ssomeone’s had a bad day. No one said anything about what you just rambled on about so please leave.
The subtext running through all these protestations from biracials is that they should no longer have to deal with the “burden” of being perceived as black. This is further complicated by the fact that there are many blacks who are not technically “biracial” but who look far whiter than many people with one black and one white parent. Soooo…where exactly does the black race begin and end? Biracials clearly are moving towards being considered another race entirely. Where does that leave their black parent?
All the more reason for her son to be honest about their heritage. Mildred Loving is not the only woman of that era who suffered. Many more who could have passed for pure white chose to stand with their brothers and sisters and live their lives as proud BLACK people-not white, not mixed, not “multiracial.”
She’s clearly mixed with African ancestry. Her internalized racism is disgusting.
What do you mean clearly? So cause she’s light brown, she automatically has African ancestry? Indigenous people have brown skin as well. Jim Crow denied people in so many ways. The ability to claim who they really were is one of them. Why perpetuate that system of hate which worked so hard to make non-white people feel inferior?
Her features look African American. She looks like a typical AA with some non black admixture
The typical AA is full of non-black admixture. There really isn’t a typical look.
Maybe it’s the press n curl… Just sayin…
How is she clearly mixed with African ancestry? I haven’t been able to locate any concrete info on her parents nor am I aware of a DNA test being done so all we have is conjecture. Mrs. Loving even gave contradictory info.
Her hair texture and facial features would indicate that she was primarily black. If you look at many photos of her, it is obvious. Perhaps, she had some Native American in her, perhaps not. It was almost an obsession with blacks of the time to try to minimize their black heritage by claiming NA blood. As I said in an earlier post, if it’s that big of a deal to her son, he should take a DNA test. Looks to me like denial runs in her family. The long, straight black hair that many of us were led to believe… Read more »
Her dna test said 83.2% African and no native blood.
That’s my dna test that was 83% African, and it is 2% East Asian and Native American. East Asian is a part of the Native American genome at 23andme. It’s East Asian AND Native American as a single grouping. They’re not separate. My grandmother is the one who is 11%. The number reduces with each generation
BTW, this OP is talking about Mildred Loving, not my gramma
Yes, that’s who I was talking about as well. But then you said, you don’t know me, which was weird, but sorry.
Her mother’s(Musiel Byrd Jeter) family is from the Rappahannock tribe
Honestly, the story isn’t’ even that interesting. This was the era of Jim Crow that’s how it was. It was stupid and ridiculous at that time yes, but at least they made a good film, why complain about the actress being “black” when your grandma was half black? I just don’t get it
He is saying she wan’t half black, she wasn’t black at all just a mix of different native american nations
She was 83.2% African, so internalized self hatred wins.
Our Peoples were only labeled as “black” by the colonizers. WE are the original aborigenes, misnomered as native American…even Native American is derogatory and a misnomer. The Creatress did not make us crayons, that is the Albions attempt to regulate what they have no control of to make himself feel better…BTW, they exist as so-called White only on paper, as do those who call themselves so-called black. Those are international statuses that have been switched over here. Those who are inherently “White” in status have been labeled as “Black”. Even Pres. Obama stated live on the air for Joyner not… Read more »
You sound delusional. We are not indigenous Americans. We are Africans.
This could easily be solved by Mark taking a DNA test. It is amazing what these tests reveal. All my life I was told that my paternal grandfather was part Creek out of Alabama. He totally looked the part, but…Nope. Not. A. Single. Drop. Mildred was in de’ Nile. The vast majority of US blacks are mixed with overseer blood from the British Isles. I will NOT go to see this film for more reasons than I could explain here. Love who you want, but understand that in 4 or 5 generations, we’ll be right back where we started. The… Read more »
I agree 100%
She did 83.2% African.
It was safer to say you were just indigenous and not black in some areas at this time, unfortuneately it sounds like that narrative became a part of her identity, and turned into internalized racism.
Correct. Once all the Natives were killed and no longer a threat it’s safer to say Indian, because now Black was the major threat.
I think sometimes I believe much is made of nothing. Whether or not Ms. Jeter identified as Black does not minimize the meaning of her stand. I do believe that Blacks / African -Americans should really begin to encourage bi-racial or multi-racial people to identify as such and refraining from policing them in any way. At the end of the day, why is it the responsibility of African Americans to encourage, confront, or question the identity of bi-racial or multi-racial “black” people? It’s 2016, you know who I care about Black American or African American females period….they are my concern… Read more »
YES!!!!
This is pretty easy to debunk. If you watch the documentary of the same name, she actually says that she is “part Indian”.
She doesn’t erase her blackness, but she clearly IDed more with that heritage since she was raised as such.
Her town was typical Appalachia. A black, white Indian mix. Don’t judge her using a modern lens.
The Indians in the Applachia were all killed by White people. In that area now with DNA testing most of the Blacks claiming Indian blood had none or 2%. It’s like the Dominicans claiming Tiano Indian – they were all killed. There is some in Puerto Rico in people’s blood – 10%. But 0% in Dominican Republic.
What makes you think those black with Indian blood stayed? Plus she was probably part of the Melungeons.
Either way what does it matter anyway. The law was passed.
The Black Indian stayed – from history – you can look it up having worked the land from all those generations. The land wasn’t going to work itself. And the White people weren’t going to do the work. Also most of the Black had White blood. There were no Indian blood to get. Once the government wanted the land back after the Black Americans had worked it for generations they used the dna tests to take it from them. And there were no living Natives to claim the land. The built housing on it that was then and is now… Read more »
Wrong, you obviously don’t know anything about us. My grandmother and I took a dna test. Her numbers are on the left
Sub-Saharan African 83.2% 51.3%
European 13.7% 36.6%
East Asian & Native American 2.0% 10.9%
Middle Eastern & North African 0.4% 0.2%
Unassigned 0.6% 1.0%
I am wrong about not knowing you personally, lol.
So she’s 83% African & 2% East Asian so…. no Native Blood. You’re 51% Black (half Black) and 11% native.
Proves my point why you guys didnt get the native land your great grandparents lived on and worked on, which is unfair.
Proves internalized racism also as she’s 83% African.
His results are on the left, I believe. Not his grandmother’s. I think he mistyped.
That makes more sense. He has none. And she has 11% Native Blood.
My grandmother is the one who is 11%, which means her grandmother was 1/4. Don’t need you riding in here telling me how illegal immigrants are the real Native Americans as if being part African cancels anything. As a Latino you’re part European(and Black likely), so does that negate your claims? Your Native ancestry if you have any has no bearing in the USA, only south OF it
I not saying that, I am saying why is it sooo bad being African. It’s like everything is better then Black. I am Afro Latinx. Heavy on the Afro part. I am not chasing down Native or European ancestors and my husband is Black.
So I misread your comment from the phone. Sorry…
Yep, I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and we are tri-racial descendants of several generations of Free Colored People. FCP included Native Americans in Virginia, and they definitely mixed all the way through NC into upper SC
My grandmother and I both took(numbers on the left are mine) a dna test…
Sub-Saharan African 83.2% 51.3%
European 13.7% 36.6%
East Asian & Native American 2.0% 10.9%
Middle Eastern & North African 0.4% 0.2%
Unassigned 0.6% 1.0%
Since your grandma had African ancestry why did she deny that she was black?
You’ll have to dig her up and ask her.
A few years ago there was a documentary called the “The Loving Story” and it was stated that Mrs. Loving was “part Indian” but was considered Black or African American woman. The Documentary was filmed in real time. I personally enjoyed the documentary because they seemed to love each other so…much and it also made me realize how much white people were taught to hate people of different races. Remember racism/hate is taught, you are not born with hatred in your heart.
Okay but on the real though. America is one of the few countries where people who have both black and white ancestory aren’t offered their own identities. For example, some countries – like south africa- offer those who have ‘mixed roots’ different identities they can align themselves with if they choose from “biracial”, “coloured” and “Cape malay” (please note that the latter is considered politically incorrect by some communities as it has been shown that this group of people don’t have roots in Malaysia alone but all over Asia and east africa) these three groups who share black and white… Read more »
It’s relevant to note that apartheid South Africa banned interracial marriage, so mixed race people were against the law and called “coloureds”. Black South Africans were arrested for having mixed babies and the babies taken away from them to live in their own colony. So most “coloureds” grew up in another level of segregation, were rather rare to come across, and were unfamiliar to most of the black population. (South African comedian Trevor Noah jokes that most people thought he was albino, not mixed, and notes that he couldn’t walk down the street with both or either of his parents… Read more »
Ahh
When I read the Nigerian part I thought that it sounds so similar to Ghana. When a bi-racial person is seen in Ghana they are really SEEN. And in the best way possible. They receive preferential treatment. We also tend to call them half-caste though the term seems to be going away. They also clearly see themselves as Ghanaians and are quite proud as well. I believe it has got to do with the Ghanaian nature of inclusiveness and patriotism. We just love accepting all people. We treat visitors like kings or queens and white people love it when they… Read more »
Lol memories. This is what I’ve been explaining to non-Africans (AA) about being bi or mulit-racial in Africa. They are not forced to pick one side because they are both and we recognize them as 50/50 but they wholly embrace their African ethnicity (whatever it is).
I know Coloured SAs in England and they prefer to talk about their Dutch ancestors before they discuss their African identity. My brother use to work with one guy who happens to have darker skin than him has white on his passport.
It’s an old system called the “one drop rule”, meant to discourage people from “dirtying” the white bloodline.
obviously because it was so ingrained for such a long time, it still has effects today and so people still think in terms of that. it makes an odd sort of contradiction with mixed kids being brought out of the fields during the slave days though.
South Africans didn’t really have a choice in the matter. The government categorized you
Oh, yes but I mean societal as well as legislative x. The government didn’t/doesn’t have “biracial” or even “cape coloured/malay” on any forms but if a south African identifies this way, we don’t make a fuss. provision for this has been made on legal documents too (under “other” which makes me twitch a little but it’s still there) x
I saw the original documentary. The native Indians on that land were all killed. The Blacks were pushed onto the land because of segregation or from working the land. White men go at night and have babies w/the black little girls – leaving them w/mix races babies some times up to 12 kids. Once the Native Indians got reprorations they began doing dna test and most blacks that claim Native blood just had White and Black blood. She got Indian on her birth certificate because of the land. Her family lived in poverty, she could’ve claim native blood for tax… Read more »
Remember this, she was 11 when he started seeing her. So she formed an attachment to him. The other little Black girls would run away and hide. The Blacks and mixed race on the reservation thought she was crazy for willingly sleep w/him. She pushed for marriage to ligitamize their relationship. She spent her entire relationship convincing him she wasnt Black.
Wow so she was being raped by him? Sickening. There is always a darker tale to tell from these stories.
I won’t say raped. Soon Yi doesn’t believe she was raped by Woody Allen. They were groomed by their men. But remember he was not woke and she spent lots of time denouncing blackness and being the ‘Good” Black. He was an alcoholic and couldn’t keep a job, which he blamed on having a Black wife in the court documents.
Could leave a source where it states she was only 11? I hit up the BIO channel write up and clearly state she met him in high school. Wow.
In the original docu – he met her when she was 11. He use to hang around the reservation w/her older brother – he was 18. No natives on the reservation – all dead just many, many mixed race children. He knocked her up in high school.
I think it is wrong to act like we know for sure what her ancestry is and then use that to make an anti-African case. Documentaries are great and all but that can’t be used to confirm her ancestry. We definitely can’t just look at her photo to tell as that is beyond ignorant. I know some black ppl want to pounce on anything they deem anti-African but sometimes it’s an overreaction. We don’t have the necessary facts and we are making assumptions based on hearsay, conflicting information, and our own bias. How many ppl “just knew” their ancestry until… Read more »
Do the research. No one cares if she’s mixed or not – that’s not the issue. At the time of her youth EVERYONE was claiming Indian heritage. How did that stop? Dna testing. And most White’s that claim Cherokee or Italian really had a Black person that was passing as White – so had 7% to 20% Black blood. No Indian in their blood either. The natives were KILLED by the Whites all over the world. Lastly, that actor Don Cheadle claimed Native blood and he was 100% African AND the natives kept his people as indenture servants to work… Read more »
go vote
Whether or not she saw herself as Black; she definitely had some African American ancestry. Also, the Whites saw her as Black which is why she had to fight to have their marriage recognized. However, I wouldn’t “force” her to be Black in this day and age. In fact, I no longer want to see the movie since she was so “anti-Black”. However, remember a lot of Blacks in those days were self-hating and wanted to claim any ancestry other than their African American heritage.
Maybe because this is a “black hair” site, I look at hair. Forgive me, if she was Indian, it was very little. Could it have been possible, like so many blacks at the time…she did not want to be, what you can clearly tell….that she’s black.
She descends from the Byrd(her mother’s maiden name) family, which is definitely Rappahannock Indian where she comes from. That’s not to say she isn’t part Black, but she definitely has some non-Black characteristics.
“Several much-worn specimens
from Rappahannock show that the type
is identical with that known from the
Pamunkey and the other Powhatan allies.
One of these was obtained from the Byrd
family near Central Point;”
https://archive.org/stream/rappahannockindi00spec/rappahannockindi00spec_djvu.txt
the original native americans were black.. (black skin)
Hoteps read bglh now?? Mess.
Stop. Such lies.
Hmmmm…. Hollywood f*cked it up again. Surprise, surprise. The movie would have been interesting with its genuine storyline rather than a “cleaned up” one.
She is from Virginia and I’m from West Virginia, where there was a lot of race mixing going on for centuries. Most Blacks from here are actually “tri-racial isolates” that are a mixture of Black, White and Indian. In an area where all “people of color” are mixed, your actual identify is connected to the family/community that reared you. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_Ridge_people
I am so sick of black people using the “race mixing” tag to camouflage self-hate. GIRL, GONE. Bye.
Well said!!!
Yep, me too. There are whole communities of people like her. It was not unusual for them to deny having any Black ancestry. The case of the Va. official; Walter Plecker sought to label ALL Virginia Indians as Black. Even some of my ancestors were included. Virginia is STEEPED in that kind of history were Native Americans were also slaves and later around 1680 Free Colored People. ” January 1943 Local Registrars, Physicians, Health Officers, Nurses, School Superintendents, and Clerks of the Courts Dear Co-workers: Our December 1942 letter to local registrars, also mailed to the clerks, set forth the… Read more »
The other side is many Whites who say they have Native blood really just having Black blood and no Native.
I looked up some articles and they described her as being of European, African and Native American descent. I have read where she is quoted as saying she is part black.
Not sure the relevance and connection of the last idea. I’m talking about the undertones of anti-blackness in Mark Loving’s statement about his grandmother and its relationship with the “Cherokee tribe”. Referring to this line “…it has been revealed that the Cherokee tribe was part of group that adopted the colonial practice of slavery” I’m confused because the Rappahannock tribe are being slumped together with the “Cherokee tribe”, which erases their sovereignty as an autonomous group and therefore their existence as a distinct culture, something that Rappahannock descendants like Mildred are proud of. Most people would agree that it is… Read more »
LOL. Poor swirl community. They were really looking forward to commemorating this woman #dead
She sure looks black
Most definitely…
She obviously had at least some African ancestry, most likely some European, and some Native American, a real mix. Just sad that some people have denied their African ancestry.
My grandmother told to me stories of “passing” blacks in our family who moved north (even to Canada) from the south and never looked back or contacted family members. As if their actions would erase any traces of their African heritage. But that heritage has a tendency to surface a generation or so down the line. If so, I hope they had good luck trying to explain their dark-skinned children to their white partners..:) But all in all, if that was their feeling as it seems to be have been with Mildred, then so be it. Anyone who should find… Read more »
She obviously had some African Ancestry and was one dropped by the racial laws of the time. But, like the Lumbees, the Wampanoag, the Rammapough Indians, the Garifuna and the Melungeons among others, her primary identity as a Native should be respected. Her African ancestry did not invalidate her Native ancestry no matter how much the law said so. She should be mentioned as an Afrodescendant struggling under Jim Crow but still show her Family identity.
I think it is very sad that she has to deny her African self because Black culture and identity has been made a bad thing. Psychologically she and her family are damaged. It demonstrates the damage white ideology has done to African Americans. IT is not that she can not be First Nations; own the entire of who you are.Whilst I thank her for her courageous fight, I will not watch the movie, and I feel sad and sorry for her grandson Mark.I can not be proud of someone or something who is not proud to be a part of… Read more »
It’s clear that she is black. We all know that blacks and whites like (especially in the South) to claim Native American heritage. I don’t think we should hold every black person from the 1960s or any era to the standard of a civil rights activists. I don’t think they were trying to be “woke”. The Lovings just seemed like simple folk who would do anything to be together. Almost like it was a sin for them to be apart. The fact that ML’s momma told her she was Native American (and she accepted it) is just not the point.… Read more »
Mildred was obviously mixed race. She looks Native American with some black blood as well. There is nothing wrong with her acknowledging her Native American ancestry.
This post is sooooo ignorant. Native Americans are “Black” “Negro” and “Coloured” by the white man slavery terms she is all of the above. Black people are the natives. All of the Americas from Canada right down to South America, Carribean and Melinasian, Polynesian and Hawiaan islands we were ALREADY THERE WE DID NOT COME FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA. That is the Eugenics white supremacist theory of evolution; that everyone came from Africa as Apes developed into the black man then other races. Stop believing in this endroctrination. We are global natives of all the land. Melinated people produce all… Read more »
Grandma got nappy hair boo
She obviously didn’t want to identify with her blackness because of where she grew up and the time period. It is no secret that black people then and now will quickly state everything else that they are and add black in at the end (if it’s mentioned at all). Perhaps she was ashamed of her blackness, or in denial of its existence we will never know; but her grandson “looks” black, her kids look mixed black and she herself looks black so ??????????. My maternal family is from Louisiana all very fair skinned all like to say we have Native… Read more »
Mildred most likely identified as Indian to make her life easier and to get married. It was illegal for blacks to marry whites at the time, so she may have likely put Indian on her certificate so that there would be no issues once they returned to Virginia (They married in D.C.). She was obviously black, but we don’t know how she was raised, what she was told by her parents. She may have been confused. She wasn’t confused enough to identify as white however. She was Indian and Black – that is clear. The grandson is also clearly black.… Read more »
Mildred loving was very much aware of her ancestry every person with dark skin does not come from Africa. originally all people’s came from Africa but few people are aware of the fact that just like in Australia and the Polynesian Islands America common North America Central and South America we’re all occupied by indigenous people of color. a lot of people have a misconception of what and who the true Indians the true native Aboriginal inhabitants of America are. We did not all come from Africa to America some of us were here already and black is amiss identification… Read more »
Late to the party, but it sounds like internalized racism to me. Someone cited a relevant passage from her letter to RFK in which she clearly self-identified as part black and part Native American. I read that, at the time, “miscegenation” (terrible word) between blacks and whites was much less taboo than that between Native Americans (“Indians”) and whites, meaning their best chance of success would be to portray her as Native America, hence the booking documents and marriage license. Maybe she adopted that narrative and held onto it. Maybe, for whatever reason, she genuinely no longer wanted to identify… Read more »
We need for Dr. Henry Louis Gates to do a DNA test on the grandson who obviously has AA heritage just like his grandmother Mrs. Loving. I have a distant cousin who claims Creek Indian ancestry from here to eternity. I saw his DNA results on 23 and Me. Like me he’s 90% SubSaharan. Self hatred is a plague.
It’s interesting to me that the grandson says his grandmother was not Black and that Mildred denied being black later in life. On the 1940 census his great grandparents and his grandmother are listed as Negro. When his great grandmother remarried, she self-identified as Black not Indian. Her marriage certificate listed Mildred as Indian and her birth certificate listed her as colored, which Virginia recognized as Negro, whereas Indian was its own classification. And in the US Supreme Court case she was recognized as Negro. Finally, I think the conclusive evidence of Mildred’s self-identification in the sixties is the letter… Read more »