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Johnny Cash's First Wife

Was she black? Was June Carter actually an addict and a homewrecker?

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by Anonymousreply 27May 24, 2020 8:47 PM

Sicilian.

I do think June was the homewrecker, at least according to Vivian's book.

by Anonymousreply 1May 21, 2020 10:54 PM

R1 - given the racist horrors of that time in the South lots of POC claimed Sicilian or Portuguese. It was a matter of survival.

Well, June was fucking around behind Vivian's back as well as that of her husband so....she may have been a screwball.

by Anonymousreply 2May 21, 2020 10:57 PM

Rosanne Cash looks a lot like her in that photo.

And R2 yeh good point about the Sicilian claim. Who knows. Maybe Rosanne has done DNA testing.

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by Anonymousreply 3May 21, 2020 11:00 PM

R3 - a good book is "Passing" about African-Americans who passed as white in the early part of the 20th century.

by Anonymousreply 4May 21, 2020 11:10 PM

IMO, Vivian was better-looking than June Carter. Interesting to hear Vivian's side of the story. You can't blame it all on June (and not Johnny), though.

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by Anonymousreply 5May 21, 2020 11:12 PM

I’ve lived in NY+ & Lawn Guyland all my life & never saw an Italian girl who looked like her. She looks Cuban to me. She probably said she was Sicilian so she could pass. I would too, back in those days in the US. No sense not trying to pass if you could. Life was scary for nonwhite women as well as nonwhite men. It wasn’t as if she needed to provide documents.

by Anonymousreply 6May 21, 2020 11:48 PM

Why do wives always blame the other women, rather than their husbands? Their husbands are the ones who are breaking vows to them.

I can understand being pissed at both, but not holding the man blameless. It makes no sense.

by Anonymousreply 7May 22, 2020 12:23 AM

Jackson doesn’t make it all ok.

But it helps.

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by Anonymousreply 8May 22, 2020 12:45 AM

Her grandfather was born in Palermo, Sicily.

Sicily isn't that far from Africa, though. I'm sure there's a lot of similar DNA.

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by Anonymousreply 9May 22, 2020 1:25 AM

Doesn’t mean the rest of her family was.

by Anonymousreply 10May 22, 2020 1:58 AM

Roseanne Cash said on the PBS Country Music documentary that her mother was often misidentified as black by racist music fans but I understand that the attacks only happened when Johnny Cash was out of step with fans.

by Anonymousreply 11May 22, 2020 2:30 AM

Her father may have been from Sicily, but her nasal features are that of African heritage. I think the family denied or did not know of all her ancestors and it would not have served them well during the 50s for a white man from the south to have married someone with African heritage. She was a lovely woman and it should have made no difference in her heritage. It would be interesting if one of the Cash children have ever done a genetic test.

by Anonymousreply 12May 22, 2020 3:44 AM

[quote] given the racist horrors of that time in the South lots of POC claimed Sicilian or Portuguese. It was a matter of survival.

Yes. I remember a community in the south said they were Portuguese & not of African descent but DNA ultimately showed they were mixed race African & European. There are still white people in this country who would enslave & kill black people if they could. It’s a mass psychosis. It’s exactly what happens in places like Nazi Germany & the Balkans and India/Pakistan with Hindu vs Muslim. In those places it’s religion. In the US it’s race + religion that makes people crazed.

by Anonymousreply 13May 22, 2020 4:03 AM

Sicily was colonized by the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, the Normans, the Spanish and the French, I imagine that their DNA is quite a mixture.

by Anonymousreply 14May 22, 2020 4:04 AM

She's interesting-looking

by Anonymousreply 15May 22, 2020 4:06 AM

R 14. The genetic testing of today can trace your heritage to a geographic area, today's country boundaries and if you wish, way way back.

by Anonymousreply 16May 22, 2020 6:16 AM

Funny and sweet article by Rosanne about her late stepmother, June.

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by Anonymousreply 17May 22, 2020 6:28 AM

R13 - I am currently in the Balkans and I know...it is incredible the things people are capable of doing to other human beings based on "being different". We really are deluding ourselves when we say we are evolved. In the US so many people are still attacked and hurt or worse for being different.

by Anonymousreply 18May 22, 2020 6:44 AM

R17, wow, Roseanne Cash really loved June Carter Cash, her stepmother. Makes me look at June differently. It's usually a hard relationship between a stepdaughter and stepmother.

by Anonymousreply 19May 22, 2020 6:50 AM

Is there no such thing as mixed in America? Girl..

by Anonymousreply 20May 22, 2020 6:56 AM

Rosanne Cash is a spectacular human being and musician. She's the truth of New York City with all those other deep roots. Not the world's best voice - but you don't always need that to make great music. She's her father's daughter. Famously prickly group who are much more than that. The music they make is full of pain and soul and funk. A bit of rock n roll.

I do think that Vivian was part black. The Ken Burn's documentary addressed it full on. I might be remembering wrong. One of my first dates with my BF was to see Roseanne Cash at the Opera House. Great band, great songs. Distinctive voice. NYC classic country. She's fucking cool.

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by Anonymousreply 21May 22, 2020 7:12 AM

Why was a grown ass man named Johnny?

by Anonymousreply 22May 22, 2020 8:33 AM

Cuz y'all were already named Sissy R22.

by Anonymousreply 23May 22, 2020 8:36 AM

At least he wasn't named Sue.

by Anonymousreply 24May 24, 2020 8:29 PM

I’m sure even being Italian back then was difficult

by Anonymousreply 25May 24, 2020 8:44 PM

She reminds me a little of Candi Staton.

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by Anonymousreply 26May 24, 2020 8:47 PM

Candi.

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by Anonymousreply 27May 24, 2020 8:47 PM
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