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Johnny Cash's 1st Wife
Drapsey
2021-05-16 15:41:10
White supremacists attacked Johnny Cash for marrying a ‘Negro’ woman. But was his first wife Black?
On Oct. 4, 1965, country music star Johnny Cash was arrested near the U.S.-Mexico border after buying amphetamines and sedatives from a drug dealer in Juárez and stashing them in his guitar case. His long-suffering first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash, left their daughters in California and journeyed to El Paso to be by his side for the arraignment.
As Vivian stood with Cash in front of the federal courthouse, wrapped in a dark coat, her eyes downcast beneath her bouffant hairdo, a newspaper photographer snapped a picture. In the image, Vivian, whose father was of Sicilian heritage and whose mother was said to be of German and Irish descent, appeared to be Black.
Vivian Cash’s maternal great-great grandmother was indeed an enslaved Black woman, Sarah Shields, whose White father in 1848 had granted her and her eight siblings their freedom and their passage into Whiteness, too. Shields married a White man — albeit illegally — and by the time Jim Crow arrived in the 1930s all of her children and their descendants were listed as White.
Interesting.
Chrissy
2021-05-16 16:22:53
Drapsey
2021-05-16 16:42:35
In reply to Chrissy
I consider myself knowledgeable, but this piece of info really eluded me.
FanAttick
2021-05-16 17:04:36
In reply to Drapsey
Johnny Cash talks about his love for black
I was traveling on the now defunct Midwest Airlines from Kansas City to NYC on the anniversary of Wild Gilbert - September 12, 2003. The pilot announced over the intercom that the great Johnny Cash had died. He tuned to a country radio station that was playing Cash songs for the remainder of the trip…
black
2021-05-16 17:28:58
In reply to Drapsey
Of course she was black and I have heard about her before.
Brerzerk
2021-05-16 17:41:40
In reply to black I never have. Very interesting story
Drapsey
2021-05-16 17:43:08
In reply to black
Of course she was black and I have heard about her before.
For some reason that one slipped me.
Drapsey
2021-05-16 17:53:21
In reply to FanAttick
I was traveling on the now defunct Midwest Airlines from Kansas City to NYC on the anniversary of Wild Gilbert - September 12, 2003. The pilot announced over the intercom that the great Johnny Cash had died. He tuned to a country radio station that was playing Cash songs for the remainder of the trip…
Johnny Cash was one of my favorites and I never tire of hearing his lyrics.
A little off topic, but I like sharing this. I was traveling that same route on the same Midwest Airlines in the 90s when Tony Gonzales, who played for the Kansas City Chiefs, moved from his seat close to the 'kitchen' and came and sat beside me. We conversed all the way to NY. That's when I learned he was (East) Harlem born and raised.
Raggs
2021-05-16 18:03:32
there was a blockbuster Oscar movie about Johnny Cash, she never was portrayed indeh?
Casper
2021-05-16 18:17:43
Never knew of this story. Thanks for sharing Drapsey.
But, we all should know that many a Black passed at White. Anyhow, next time, when you come across a Southern "white" check him/her carefully, you may surmise that there's much black blood running through those veins, you will not be wrong.
Drapsey
2021-05-16 18:36:15
In reply to Casper
Interesting link that too.
I wonder if that's why Marjorie Taylor-Greene is so 'angry' towards people of color, J. Edgar Hoover-like. She kinda have that look 
black
2021-05-16 19:07:44
In reply to Drapsey
For some reason that one slipped me
Lol. I don't know much about it but I have heard that he was married to a black woman.
nitro
2021-05-16 19:47:46
Oh dear. So Cash is held in high esteem because he married a black woman?
Johny Cash full singing album on the Bible is a gem. Y'all should take a listen.
Drapsey
2021-05-16 20:36:34
In reply to nitro
Oh dear. So Cash is held in high esteem because he married a black woman?
And that's your take.
dayne
2021-05-16 20:50:37
This racial labelling of people in America is always taken to the extreme. It it amazing how white purity is so important
buds
2021-05-16 22:28:25
Drapsey
2021-05-16 22:48:06
In reply to buds
Are you the narrator?
Oops, sorry. That was the next video.
buds
2021-05-16 22:54:47
In reply to Drapsey
Sorry but he was a great song writer and true to his wearing black for the less fortunate. From what I understood he contributed to this home in JA for kids less fortunate in Jamaica for decades.
Drapsey
2021-05-16 23:01:52
In reply to buds
We need to bring our colleague nitro up to date on Johnny Cash's 'links' with Jamaica.
nitro
2021-05-17 00:34:50
In reply to Drapsey
I know of his Jamaican links. Cant fathom the 'joy' of finding out he had a black lady.
Drapsey
2021-05-17 00:36:50
In reply to nitro
Who expressed (or even insinuated) joy?
nitro
2021-05-17 00:38:04
In reply to Drapsey
All a unnuh except the friendly Canadian Duppy.
JayMor
2021-05-17 01:56:17
In reply to buds
Thanks, Buds. Camos, Drapsey and Nitro are not going to believe that I have never been to Rose Hall Great House. Must fix that next visit.
In reply to Casper
Wow! I didn't know he held such deep convictions. His "San Quinton" prison song was played in Jamaica but my favourite of his was Ghost Riders in the Sky.
In reply to Drapsey
Wonderful piece of esoterica, Rasta (despite Nitro; LOL). Thanks, man.
--Æ.
Drapsey
2021-05-17 03:23:16
In reply to JayMor
If nitro thinks that admitting to liking the lyrics of Johnny Cash's songs is an expression of joy, then I think he needs to go out more.
He spent way too much time in the Westmoreland mangrove swamps.
