Saved by the Bell was my favorite show growing up. Set in California, the early 1990s TV comedy series followed six high school students as they found new ways to torment their principal.

Six years old when the show first aired, one of the things I remember most is how the nerdy character, Samuel “Screech” Powers, pined after Lisa Turtle, the show’s fashionista. Nothing about it seemed strange; Lisa was a catch. She had great style and nice dance moves (even on just one foot while doing “the Sprain”).

I didn’t think about the fact that Lisa was Black and Screech was white, what that fact said about how the country had evolved since the end of legal segregation, and what seeing those interracial friendships and partnerships would mean for my generation and future generations. And it definitely didn’t dawn on me that had Lisa reciprocated Screech’s feelings, they would have been able to marry, thanks to Mildred and Richard Loving.