| Revision as of 03:40, 24 August 2021 editMickTravisBickle (talk | contribs)280 editsm →Thunderbolt Magazine Incident← Previous edit | Revision as of 04:04, 24 August 2021 edit undoMickTravisBickle (talk | contribs)280 edits →Ancestral Narrative: it’s a source of great controversy which I’m using to flesh out the section continuing to workNext edit → | ||
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| In 1965 Vivian’s husband Johnny Cash was arrested in Texas for possession of amphetamines and bringing drugs across the Mexican border. Though both spouses had been estranged for the past three years, Vivian flew out to El Paso, Texas to accompany Cash to his court hearing. <ref>Vivian Cash with Ann Sharpsteen, ''I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny – September 4, 2007, First Edition, 2001''p.315</ref>A widely circulated black and white photograph of them leaving the courthouse together was purposefully darkened and distorted by The Thunderbolt, a racist newsletter distributed in the South by the White supremacist ]. Vivian and Johnny Cash received both hate mail and death threats. | In 1965 Vivian’s husband Johnny Cash was arrested in Texas for possession of amphetamines and bringing drugs across the Mexican border. Though both spouses had been estranged for the past three years, Vivian flew out to El Paso, Texas to accompany Cash to his court hearing. <ref>Vivian Cash with Ann Sharpsteen, ''I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny – September 4, 2007, First Edition, 2001''p.315</ref>A widely circulated black and white photograph of them leaving the courthouse together was purposefully darkened and distorted by The Thunderbolt, a racist newsletter distributed in the South by the White supremacist ]. Vivian and Johnny Cash received both hate mail and death threats. | ||
| ==Ancestral Narrative== | ==Ancestral Narrative Controversy== | ||
| Following the attacks and threats to her life by white supremacists Vivian Cash’s ancestry became a source of innuendo and gossip thereafter. Throughout the years the rumor that “Johnny Cash’s first was Black” was mentioned in newspapers and later on blogs. | Following the attacks and threats to her life by white supremacists who believed she was black, Vivian Cash’s ancestry became a source of innuendo and gossip thereafter. Throughout the years the rumor that “Johnny Cash’s first was Black” was occasionally mentioned in newspapers and periodicals. Her daughter Rosanne Cash said that, “my mother faded into this negative obscurity.“ later with the advent of the Internet Vivians ancestry became a source of discussion on both news websites and blogs. | ||
| In 2021, genealogist ] from the show '']'' discovered that one of Vivian’s maternal great-great-grandmothers, Sarah A. Shields, was a mixed-race woman born into slavery, who was freed along with her eight siblings by their white father.<ref name=fdr2>Stated on '']'', February 23, 2021</ref> Gates assumed (though could confirm) that Sarah Shields’ mother recorded as “Unknown Jinsy” had most likely been an enslaved fully African woman possibly making one of Vivian Cash’s 64 great great great grandparents fully Black African with the rest being of full European ancestry. According to her official biographer Ann Sharpsteen and Vivian Cash’s own words in her 2007 memoir, Vivian strongly identified throughout her life as a White/Sicilian American and didn’t identify as Black or multi racial, stating in her memoir, “It didn’t help that Johnny issued a statement to the KKK informing them that I wasn’t black. To this day I hate when accusations and threats from people like that are dignified with any response at all.“ <ref>Vivian Cash with Ann Sharpsteen, ''I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny – September 4, 2007, First Edition, 2001''p.315</ref>. | In 2021, genealogist ] from the show '']'' discovered that one of Vivian’s maternal great-great-grandmothers, Sarah A. Shields, was a mixed-race woman born into slavery, who was freed along with her eight siblings by their white father.<ref name=fdr2>Stated on '']'', February 23, 2021</ref> Gates assumed (though could confirm) that Sarah Shields’ mother recorded as “Unknown Jinsy” had most likely been an enslaved fully African woman possibly making one of Vivian Cash’s 64 great great great grandparents fully Black African with the rest being of full European ancestry. According to her official biographer Ann Sharpsteen and Vivian Cash’s own words in her 2007 memoir, Vivian strongly identified throughout her life as a White/Sicilian American and didn’t identify as Black or multi racial, stating in her memoir, “It didn’t help that Johnny issued a statement to the KKK informing them that I wasn’t black. To this day I hate when accusations and threats from people like that are dignified with any response at all.“ <ref>Vivian Cash with Ann Sharpsteen, ''I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny – September 4, 2007, First Edition, 2001''p.315</ref>. | ||
Revision as of 04:04, 24 August 2021
First wife of Johnny Cash| Vivian Liberto | |
|---|---|
| File:Vivian Liberto in the 60s.jpgLiberto in the 1960s | |
| Born | Vivian Dorraine Liberto (1934-04-23)April 23, 1934 San Antonio, Texas, U.S. |
| Died | May 24, 2005(2005-05-24) (aged 71) Ventura, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Vivian Cash Vivian Distin |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse(s) |
Johnny Cash
(m. 1954; div. 1966) Dick Distin (m. 1968) |
| Children | 4; including Rosanne and Cindy Cash |
Vivian Liberto Distin (April 23, 1934 – May 24, 2005) was an American homemaker and author. She was the first wife of singer Johnny Cash.
Biography
Born and raised around San Antonio, Texas, Liberto was the daughter of Irene (Robinson) and Thomas Peter Liberto. Her paternal grandparents were from Cefalù, Palermo, Sicily. Her mother was German and Irish.
Vivian met Cash at a roller-skating rink in 1951 when he was based at Brooks Air Force Base. The couple courted for three weeks before the Air Force deployed Cash to West Germany for a three-year tour. During the separation, the couple exchanged thousands of letters that would eventually form the basis for Liberto’s memoir I Walked the Line, which was published in 2007.
On August 7, 1954, Liberto and Cash were married at St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church in San Antonio, one month after his discharge from the Air Force. Together they had four daughters: Rosanne, Kathy, Cindy, and Tara. The couple divorced in 1966 after twelve years of marriage. In 1968 Liberto married Dick Distin, a police officer in Ventura, California, to whom she remained married until her death on May 24, 2005, following complications from lung cancer surgery.
Thunderbolt Magazine Incident
In 1965 Vivian’s husband Johnny Cash was arrested in Texas for possession of amphetamines and bringing drugs across the Mexican border. Though both spouses had been estranged for the past three years, Vivian flew out to El Paso, Texas to accompany Cash to his court hearing. A widely circulated black and white photograph of them leaving the courthouse together was purposefully darkened and distorted by The Thunderbolt, a racist newsletter distributed in the South by the White supremacist National States' Rights Party. Vivian and Johnny Cash received both hate mail and death threats.
Ancestral Narrative Controversy
Following the attacks and threats to her life by white supremacists who believed she was black, Vivian Cash’s ancestry became a source of innuendo and gossip thereafter. Throughout the years the rumor that “Johnny Cash’s first was Black” was occasionally mentioned in newspapers and periodicals. Her daughter Rosanne Cash said that, “my mother faded into this negative obscurity.“ later with the advent of the Internet Vivians ancestry became a source of discussion on both news websites and blogs.
In 2021, genealogist Henry Louis Gates from the show Finding Your Roots discovered that one of Vivian’s maternal great-great-grandmothers, Sarah A. Shields, was a mixed-race woman born into slavery, who was freed along with her eight siblings by their white father. Gates assumed (though could confirm) that Sarah Shields’ mother recorded as “Unknown Jinsy” had most likely been an enslaved fully African woman possibly making one of Vivian Cash’s 64 great great great grandparents fully Black African with the rest being of full European ancestry. According to her official biographer Ann Sharpsteen and Vivian Cash’s own words in her 2007 memoir, Vivian strongly identified throughout her life as a White/Sicilian American and didn’t identify as Black or multi racial, stating in her memoir, “It didn’t help that Johnny issued a statement to the KKK informing them that I wasn’t black. To this day I hate when accusations and threats from people like that are dignified with any response at all.“ .
Legacy
Liberto was portrayed in the Cash biopic Walk the Line by actress Ginnifer Goodwin and by Anna Grace Stewart in the CMT miniseries Sun Records. Liberto's life and times are chronicled in the 2020 documentary film, My Darling Vivian, which premiered as part of the South by Southwest 2020 Film Festival Collection, presented by Amazon Prime Video.
References
- Stated on My Darling Vivian Documentary, February 23, 2020
- Marini, Richard (May 31, 2015). "Johnny Cash's Alamo City Courtship". San Antonio Express News. p. D 7.
- Hilburn, Robert (2013). Johnny Cash: The Life (ebook ed.). Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-19475-4.
- Maslin, Janet (August 30, 2007). "When Man in Black Was Just Johnny". The New York Times. p. D 7.
- Johnson, Brett (August 30, 2007). "The Man in Black's first wife, Vivian Cash, tells of romance, heartbreak". VC Star. Camarillo, California. p. D 7.
- Vivian Cash with Ann Sharpsteen, I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny – September 4, 2007, First Edition, 2001p.315
- Stated on Finding Your Roots, February 23, 2021
- Vivian Cash with Ann Sharpsteen, I Walked the Line: My Life with Johnny – September 4, 2007, First Edition, 2001p.315
- Betts, Stephen (April 29, 2020). "Johnny Cash's First Wife Profiled in New Doc 'My Darling Vivian': What We Learned". Rolling Stone. New York City.