Created by Teaching Tolerance

We are thrilled to announce the arrival of the official Loving Story Teacher’s Guide, created by Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Available for download here, the guide is a valuable resource for educators and students alike, walking classrooms through this complex and often overlooked part of American History.

Covering a broad range of topics including the Arts, History, Civics, Geography, and Language Arts, this equips classrooms to have a dynamic learning experience by getting out of textbooks and into film.

For more information on The Loving Story and Educational Opportunities please contact us.

• “But it’s the Lovings, not Loving v. Virginia, that hold our attention. Their reticence, even under such close camera scrutiny, is intriguing and even charming.”- The New York Times

• “The film strikes a quiet, contemplative tone that befits its soft-spoken subjects rather than the tumultuous times in which they lived.” – The Hollywood Reporter

• “The Lovings had no idea they were going to change America. Nor did they particularly want the role—”I wasn’t involved with the civil rights movement,” Mildred explains at one point. “We were trying to get back to Virginia. That was our goal.” – Mother Jones

• “What We Learned: A Moving Tale of Love and Civil Rights” - Entertainment Weekly

• “The Loving War: How Black History Is Both Black And White” - The Picture Show from NPR

• “With no narration and only a few on-screen titles, “The Loving Story” is told mostly in the voices of those who lived it.” – STL Today’s Tube Talk with Gail Pennington

• “When I see mixed couples, I’m like, they don’t even know how they’re able to do this,” she says. “It was because of my parents they’re able to. Even now, the younger ones, there’s more interracial couples than ever and they don’t know. They don’t know.” - Peggy Loving in The New York Post

• “It reminds you of what great non-fiction filmmaking can be” - David Zurawik’s preview of “The Loving Story” from The Baltimore Sun (click on quote for mp3 file)

• “Love in a time of … Jim Crow” - The Christian Science Monitor Top Picks

Join us at 7:30pm for the film, following by a Q&A with director Nancy Buirski.

It made our day to see this shoutout from Bust Magazine, calling The Loving Story a Must-Watch and “the most romantic and moving documentary of the year.”

Their particular choice of photograph is also the perfect opportunity to give a very special thanks to Barbara Villet for her beautifully written piece about her late husband, Grey Villet, and the story behind his photography of the Loving family.

Of the image above, she wrote:

“…a picture of Richard and Mildred Loving standing on their porch with a pillar between them quietly suggests the legal barriers then threatening their marriage.”

We encourage you to read her essay as it adds another intimate layer to the deeply moving photography.

The New York Times Magazine

We are honored to begin 2012 with a beautiful feature spread in this week’s New York Times Magazine.

The piece walks through 12 images (taken by LIFE Photographer Grey Villet) of the Loving Family and quietly captures the love and bond between Richard, Mildred, and their children.

Thank you to everyone for an amazing 2011 and we look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Palm Springs International Film Festival

• Screenings on Sunday January 8th at 8pm and Monday January 9th and 5pm.  You can purchase tickets here.

Museum of Tolerance Special Screening with HBO

• Tuesday January 10th at 7pm.  For more information, click here.

Screening at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)

• Tuesday January 17th in Washington, DC.

Please help us spread the word and check back shortly for an additional list of updates and screenings.

- USA Today published an article about the rise of interracial marriages, and the challenges many families still face.  Amy Wise, one of the women featured in the article, has a wonderful blog you can read here.

- Duke University has been collecting oral histories of Jim Crow south with deeply moving (and often disturbing) accounts of life not too long ago, featured recently on NPR.

- An interracial couple was banned for a small churchy in Kentucky… after a public outcry, the church quickly overturned the ban

- In Western New York, a girl’s varsity basketball team was called out for using a racist cheer to “pump them up” before games… when their only black player spoke up about their repeated use of “‘The N-word,’” she was met with and unsympathetic response, a team member reportedly saying “‘You know we’re not racist, Tyra. It’s just a word, not a label.’”

Be sure to join us on Facebook, where you can see these updates in real-time as well as the subsequent conversations sparking from fellow Loving Story supporters.

For a list of the full 15, click here.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way.

Not only is it Black History Month but also a day we all celebrate love – there could not be a better time to share this important story.

Thank you for your continued support and we hope you tune in wherever you may be!