Richard and Mildred Loving were a brave and tenacious couple who made the existence of many American families possible. 

The marriage of Richard, a white man, and Mildred, a Black and Native American woman, was illegal in their home state of Virginia. The Lovings challenged Virginia’s long-standing anti, miscegenation laws and won in a landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision that struck down restrictions on interracial marriage in the U.S. Loving v. Virginia set the precedent for the legalization of same-sex marriage decades later in 2015.

The story of the Lovings’ triumph over racial injustice has been set to music in the opera “Loving v. Virginia,” a production by Virginia Opera and the Richmond Symphony three years in the making. In celebration of its 50th season this year, Virginia Opera sought to tell a story unique to the state and named Chesterfield County native and Damien Geter as composer. Jessica Murphy Moo wrote the lyrics of the opera as librettist, and renowned mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves is stage director.

Geter said he hopes the story reaches those who may not know of the Lovings.

“As a native Virginian, the historical significance of Loving v. Virginia has remained with me since I was a teenager, but I’m finding there are many who are unfamiliar with this landmark case,” Geter said.

The score blends opera with more contemporary Southern American sounds to evoke the gospel, bluegrass and blues traditions of Virginia, said soprano Flora Hawk, who stars as Mildred Loving alongside baritone Jonathan Michie as Richard Loving.

“The music being written by someone from Virginia, who is African American, means there’s a lot of textures in the music that you don’t get in normal opera,” she said.

Hawk, a biracial Black woman married to a white man, deeply connects with Mildred’s story and draws from her own experience for the role.

“If the Lovings wouldn’t have happened, I wouldn’t have been here,” Hawk said. “I wouldn’t have been able to marry the one I love and I wouldn’t have my son, and if I did, I’d be living in constant fear.”

Hawk, who lives in Montgomery County, Texas, learned more about Mildred by speaking with family, friends and reading biographies.

Looking at family photos helped her dive into portraying intimate, loving moments.

“You can just see the love between them and the way they loved their kids,” she said. “The joy you see in those kids’ eyes, and everything that was going on, they just sheltered them from it.”

The Lovings married in Washington, D.C., where interracial marriage was legal, in June 1958. They returned to their community of Central Point in Caroline County. Weeks after their wedding, the local sheriff awoke them from their bed at 2 a.m. and arrested them for violating Virginia’s anti-miscegenation laws.

The original ruling in Virginia ordered the Lovings to leave the state for 25 years. The couple moved to Washington, D.C., but wished to return to Central Point. In 1963, the American Civil Liberties Union argued on their behalf that under the 14th Amendment, interracial couples had the right to marry. The Supreme Court decision in favor of the Lovings was unanimous and effectively ended anti-miscegenation legislation remaining in 16 states — a relatively recent moment in American history.

“Loving v. Virginia” will be performed Friday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, May 11, at 2:30 p.m. at the Carpenter Theatre at Dominion Energy Center. For more information, visit dominionenergycenter.com.