Singers Clint Black and Rosanne Cash are guests on “Country Roots,” an episode of Finding Your Roots that airs Tues., February 23 at 8 p.m. (ET) on PBS.
The daughter of the legendary Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash already knew the history of her paternal roots in Scotland. “It turns out that her father was a genealogy buff,” says the show’s host, Henry Louis Gates Jr. “But the maternal side was another matter.” Gates focused research into the family of her mother, Vivian Liberto, the granddaughter of Northern Sicilians who immigrated to the U.S. in 1895, and traced their lineage to the early 1700s. “I didn’t know much about them and it makes me feel more connected to that part of my ancestry,” Rosanne reflects.
“Your parents were the target of a racist-hate campaign,” Gates tells the singer, addressing 1960s rumors swirling around Rosanne’s mother’s ethnicity. Genealogical research unearthed a complex yet fascinating long-buried family secret about their Shields ancestors in Dallas County, Alabama, in the 1840s, described by Gates as “two of the most unusual characters we’ve ever uncovered in this series.”
Clint Black’s maternal roots trace back to Northern Sicily, and—incredibly—his ancestors and Rosanne’s lived a few dozen miles of each other. Also explored is his descent from the Corley family of Shelby County, Texas, and their involvement in the Civil War, as well as the discovery of a Revolutionary War ancestor from South Carolina.
Photo: Courtesy of McGee Media