Corita Kent, new hope, 1966 serigraph, image courtesy of Corita Art Center, Los Angeles, corita.org
new hope, 1966 directly references the 1967 landmark Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, which ruled that state laws banning interracial marriage are in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Prior to this ruling, interracial marriage was illegal in a number of southern states due to Reconstruction-era anti-miscegenation laws. The marriage of Mildred Loving, a Black woman, and Richard Loving, a white man, violated Virginia state law. Because of this, the couple was sentenced to one year in prison. They decided to move to Washington D.C. to remain married and were barred from returning to Virginia for 25 years. The Lovings were assisted by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and The American Civil Liberties Union to ultimately bring their case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1966, the story of the Loving couple became increasingly popular as a result of Greg Villet’s photo-essay titled “The Crime of Being Married” which appeared in the March 18, 1966 issue of Life Magazine. In new hope, Corita appropriates mass media and advertising to voice her support for the Lovings as the bold text seen in the print were taken from magazine and news articles. Alongside the prominently featured graphics, Corita also includes a handwritten poem by E.E. Cumming about love, hope, and companionship.
-Nathan Howard ‘25