June 12 is Loving Day, a holiday honoring and celebrating the day the Supreme Court Struck down all state laws banning interracial marriage across the country. The Loving V. Virginia ruling came down in 1967, and today that memorable story and name is important to so many families, but the struggle isn't over.
Ebony Road Players, Grand Rapids’ premier theater company focused on sharing Black and underrepresented stories, will host its annual Loving Day Celebration this month with events for both adults and children.
“Faces of Family: Sowing Seeds of Love,” an event for all ages will be held on Saturday, June 10 at the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum. The festival-style celebration will be held outside the museum which is free and open to the public. Actives include planting seeds, face painting, a live mural, button making, and more. Participants can enhance their Loving Day experience by purchasing admission to the museum where additional indoor activities include cultural book readings, dancing, and art activities.
Ebony Road Players is also presenting Alabama Story this weekend at the Grand Rapids Public Museum from June 8-11. Set during the early days of the civil rights movement and inspired by true events, Alabama Story begins when a controversial children’s book about a black rabbit marrying a white rabbit stirs the passions of a segregationist state senator and a no-nonsense state librarian in 1959 Montgomery, Alabama. Meanwhile, the story of two childhood friends — an African American man and a woman of white privilege reunited in adulthood — provides a private counterpoint to the public events swirling in the state capital. Political foes, star-crossed lovers and one feisty children’s author inhabit the same page in a Deep South story of the imagination that brims with humor, heartbreak and hope.
Tickets are $30 and can be purchased in advance at EbonyRoad.org/productions.
