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In 1958, Mildred, a black woman, and Richard, a white man, married in Washington, DC to circumvent the interracial marriage ban in their home state. Shortly after returning home to Virginia, Mr and Mrs Loving were arrested. Almost a decade later, on 12 June 1967, their conviction was struck down by the US Supreme Court, making illegal the anti-miscegenation laws across the country. Following that decision, interracial marriages increased significantly, bringing with them a new generation of children born to one white parent and one black parent in a country still widely divided by race. The first episode of Topic’s original documentary series exploring the narratives of biracial Americans born between 1965 and 1985, The Loving Generation: Checking Boxes examines how entrenched ideas of ‘whiteness’ and ‘blackness’ greatly complicated and in some cases largely defined the racial and cultural identities of members of the ‘Loving generation’.
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History of technology
Replicating Shakespearean-era printing brings its own dramas and comedy
19 minutes
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Animals and humans
The wild tale of a young animal keeper, an angry tiger and a torn circle net
10 minutes
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Technology and the self
Why single Chinese women are freezing their eggs in California
24 minutes
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The ancient world
Petty squabbles and bloody battles – the life of an ancient Roman soldier
18 minutes
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Childhood and adolescence
The police camp where tween girls enter a sisterhood of law and order
28 minutes
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Astronomy
The remarkable innovations inspired by our need to know the night sky
5 minutes
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War and peace
‘She is living on in many hearts’ – Otto Frank on the legacy of his daughter’s diary
12 minutes
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Art
Why Diego Velázquez needed a lifetime to paint his enigmatic masterpiece
31 minutes
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Earth science and climate
There’s a ‘climate bomb’ ticking beneath the Arctic ice. How can we prepare?
8 minutes