OPINION
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The dear and recently departed Dolly Parton was born into illiterate poverty in Tennessee, one of America’s largely rural, share-cropping states. Her father could not read. When she made her way up to becoming an international country and western singing star, she never forgot her origins. She encountered men on her own terms, and one day soon we will have a book dedicated to her aphorisms about relationships. She supported childhood literacy, education, medical research, disaster relief, and LGBTQ+ rights throughout her life and career.
Parton established the Dollywood Foundation in 1988 to lower high-school dropout rates in her home county in Tennessee, later expanding to fund scholarships, student buddy programs, and local education milestones. She supported healthcare and medical research. She donated $1 million (US dollars) to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in 2020, which directly funded early research that helped lead to the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine.
Parton funded children’s hospitals, giving millions to institutions like the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital and the East Tennessee Children’s Hospital (later named the Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital). She financed the Dolly Parton Center for Women’s Services. She created the My People Fund, launching a telethon and direct relief fund in 2016 that provided $1,000 monthly stipends to families who lost their homes during devastating East Tennessee wildfires. She pledged millions through her foundation for recovery efforts following major regional floods and hurricanes, including relief for victims of Hurricane Helene.
Parton acted as a steadfast ally and icon for the queer community, promoting inclusivity within country music and recording work that resonated with marginalised groups. She spoke out with compassion and advocated for research funding during the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, when many public figures were missing in action.
In 1991, she made a startling offer to every seventh and eighth-grade student in Sevier County, Tennessee, where she grew up: she would give them $500 each if they graduated from high school. The children had to pick a buddy to hold each other accountable; if one didn’t graduate, the other wouldn’t get the cash. But the idea worked: the county’s high school dropout rate plummeted from 35% to 6%.
Not least of her many causes was the Imagination Library, founded in 1995 in honour of her illiterate father. This program has gifted hundreds of millions of free, age-appropriate books globally to children from birth until age five, including in Australia. It is a free book-gifting program devoted to inspiring a love of reading in the hearts of children everywhere.
In 2013 a joint effort between Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and United Way Australia began. Australia became the fourth nation and to launch the Imagination Library. There are hundreds of participants in Australia, including Tasmania. Countless parents have shared how excited their child is when their new book arrives each month. Many groups and individuals work hard behind the scenes to make that special moment possible for each child.
In interviews, the only thing that was off-limits was Parton’s politics. Her apolitical stance seemed to be about protecting her neutrality. If you’re political, she said, “You’re gonna lose half your audience. I’ve got as many Democrats as I do Republicans as fans, and I’m not going to insult any of them because I care about all of them.”
She gave the same reason for not declaring herself a feminist, saying she did not want to alienate men.
“I have my own opinion about everything,” she said, “but I don’t have to march in the streets for it. I don’t have to insult other people for it. I don’t think that makes me a hypocrite. I think it makes me a loving, caring human being.”
John Fleming II
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