In August 1970, Berta Linson and Roger Mills made history as the first legally married interracial couple in Mississippi. Their union was a landmark challenge to the state’s long-standing ban on interracial marriage, occurring three years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision had already invalidated such laws nationwide.
Berta Linson, a 24-year-old Black student at Jackson State College, and Roger Mills, a 24-year-old white law clerk for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Although the 1967 Supreme Court ruling applied to all states, Mississippi had refused to comply, leaving its 19th-century anti-miscegenation law on the books.
When the couple applied for a marriage license on July 21, 1970, they were denied by the Hinds County circuit clerk. They immediately filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge the state's refusal. On July 31, 1970, U.S. District Judge Harold Cox, a judge known for his segregationist views, was forced by the Supreme Court's precedent to order the state to issue the license.
They were married on August 2, 1970, at the Central United Methodist Church in Jackson. The event was attended by approximately 200 guests, including some who were reportedly armed for protection due to the high risk of violence. The wedding received significant media attention, which the couple found taxing; Berta later expressed that she “hated every minute” of the intense publicity.
The marriage was a landmark moment for civil rights in the South, effectively ending the practical enforcement of Mississippi's ban on interracial unions. The couple eventually moved to Washington, D.C., where Roger finished law school at George Washington University, a move Berta reportedly looked forward to as a reprieve from the tension in Mississippi.
They were married for approximately 18 years before eventually divorcing. They had two daughters; one of them, Demetria Mills, continued the family’s legacy of activism by fighting for marriage equality in the LGBTQ+ community.
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