How many people who’ve seen Walk the Line (the movie about Johnny Cash) would be amazed by these pictures of his first wife, Vivian?
I can’t get over how dismayed I am by the choice to portray Vivian Cash as a white Italian woman, given the truth.
I know that at the time, it was illegal to marry a person of another race. In the South, it must have been pretty risky. And if you wanted to be a famous country performer, it would cause way too much controversy. In fact, after the photo above was printed in a newspaper, the couple were threatened by the Klan, and there was a movement to boycott Cash’s records.
So his manager or someone produced records that “proved” Vivian was white. She was described as Italian or Sicilian. Now, everyone was happy.
But not me. Cash had four daughters with his first wife. None of them seem eager to discuss their ethnicity, and it’s nobody’s business anyway. Still, as a fan of Johnny Cash and a gullible moviegoer, I don’t want to be fed some bullshit about his life story. Whether it’s more palatable to the public to forget about Vivian and just think about Johnny and June instead, or because the movie business still can’t stand to portray women of color, it’s dismaying.
2018 is beginning to feel like 1953 in America, before civil rights and before racism was identified as something to be condemned. What the fuck! When can we go back to correcting wrongs instead of perpetuating new ones?
I guess black people are accustomed to being whitewashed by Hollywood. I feel bad about being so ignorant.
People argue about Vivian’s ethnicity and see what they want to see. I’m not a genealogist but I’m not blind either. I see a cover-up and I’ll never think of Johnny and June without a sense of betrayal. Fuck them.
Thoughts?
Truly, your country is so totally fucked up I don’t think there is a good ending.
My country isn’t much better but at least we don’t have guns in every house.
Vivian is absolutely beautiful! And yes we are living in interesting times.
Andra – Your country is far superior, agreed!!!
Madam Restora – YES, she is gorgeous! And raised four daughters, although June took credit for raising them.
Reminds me of the 1925 “Rhinelander” annulment case wherein a lady’s ethnicity was determined by nipple color:
https://mulattodiaries.com/2010/03/19/alice-disrobed/
Also, her hair in that second photo is amazeballs.
I find this quite awful.
I understand them trying to protect themselves from nutty KKK people and from his career being ruined, as it was such a huge taboo at that time, but for the movie to omit any mention of her is just odd.
Romeo – Oh god jesus. Yes, about the hair.
Suspended – Right? I mean, they did have a first wife, but a fictional one. Crazy. And awful.
I guess you saw dark skin and just had to say progressive stuff cause you assumed his LATINA wife was black. Probably got preoccupied checking your privilege every 15min.
Who said you can’t be Latina and be black? Looking at her pictures she has Afro Latina characteristics for sure. You got occupied thinking black doesn’t exist in Latin countries.
Wow! His first wife was a Negro!!! Get the F out!!! No shit! No wonder you never heard about her nor saw her! Yuck!
daughter of Irene Robinson Liberto and Thomas Peter Liberto, she may have been 50% but shit she was human. i am italian and know many who look like her, look at her death picture.. she looks Italian to me, stop labeling people… who cares!!
The movie didn’t “omit any mention of her” but it did cast a very white woman to play her. Also, it shed a negative light on her, portraying her to be a total bitch. Yeah, she should have just shut up and invited June with open arms to wreck her marriage. How dare she object!
Many of us Southern Italians look both White and Latino/Arab with a handful of Black appearances probably due to the Mediterranean(South Europe/North Africa/Levant). Mediterranean-Middle Easterners can also look Black or Bi-racial like Leila Karam. Two Italian celebs that resemble Vivian are Dolores Catania and Vanessa Ferlito. Some other Italians who look Black are Vince Lombardi, Dan Bongino and Melissa Gorga.
Many look black because they (Italians) have African heritage. It’s not that complicated nor a secret. Still I understand the author ‘s frustration; and I’d be willing to bet Vivian was more than just “Italian”…
Vivian Libertino was of Italian heritage and looked to have dark features in the black and white photographs of the time. Her daughter, Roseanne, mentions her mother’s exotic looks and how they caused newspapers at the time to defame the couple in the Ken Burns Country Music documentary.
Dolores Catania is not a great example as she has Nigerian ancestry. Dan Bongino hides his parents, but is certainly biracial. The other examples, as Italians, certainly have African phenotypes somewhere in their dna coding. Never forget that Italian is a nationality. It isn’t an ethnicity. Then remind yourself than moreso than other Anglo Saxons— Italians have a history rich and ripe with Africans, Moors. and Muslims. None of those facets diminish or take away from you. DNA tests will have some carry a low percentage and others 25% plus. Does it change your identity, no. More accepting and loving of all humanity, maybe. But denial of facts is senseless. Research is free. Vivian was not purely Caucasian. Mulatto, Quadroon, Octoroon… definitely.
It’s very, very obvious that Vivian Liberto was of partial Sub Saharan African ancestry.
Have any of her daughter’s taken a DNA test? It would certainly reveal that they are ppart black. All of you saying she is “Latina” or “Italian” seriously must be blind.
That being said, it is sad they had to lie about it, and disrespectful for her to have been portrayed as a white woman, in ‘Walk the line’
Vivian’s daughters may not necessarily indicate black DNA. It’s correct that you inherit 50% of your DNA from each parent, however the 50% you get from a parent does not have to be exactly split down the middle. That’s why the children (especially where both parents are mixed), can look so different from each other.
Vivian is descended from a slave named Sarah Shields DNA has proven it. You are correct.
It has just been shown on “Finding Your Roots” in Feb 2021, That Rosanne Cash is part black. Her mother was Sicilian, but also part black. This was found in the paper trail. It is likely that Vivian never knew that she was part black. Vivian’s aunts and uncles all were saying they were white. The program also suggested that Johnny Cash was part black. This was not found in the paper trail, but was suggested due to the amount of black DNA in Rosanne. Vivian looks black to me. I don’t think they were lying. I think they were saying what they thought was the truth.