Remembering the Life and Legacy of Dolly Parton
On August 25, just last week, the world came to a standstill when the news dropped that icon of music history Dolly Parton passed away at the age of 80. I was lucky enough to have visited Dollywood with my family in 2016 when I was about 11, and Parton has always had a strong significance in my life because of this.
We named our new family cat after her that same year, “Steel Magnolias” always reminds me of my mom and, as early as I can remember, Parton’s dedication to being unapologetically herself became something I aspired to emulate. It’s probably her fault that I need two complete hours just to get ready for my classes because I never leave the house without perfect eye makeup, and my roommate and I cried all afternoon the day we heard she was gone.
Don’t let my emotional, nostalgic connection to the superstar convince you I am exaggerating when I say the world came to a standstill, for Parton was so much more than another rich blonde celebrity with a great pen and voice.
Already, the Empire State Building turned pink at 9:25 p.m. the day she passed, Tennessee government officials have pitched a proposal to rename the Nashville International Airport to the Dolly Parton International Airport and Donald Trump even declared that all flags be lowered to half-mast out of respect for her legacy. People don’t come together like this for just any celebrity death, but if you still need a refresher course on what made Parton so much more than her appearance, allow me to enlighten you.
I’m sure you’ve heard of her incredible music, which has earned her 11 Grammys, like “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” or her classic movies like “Steel Magnolias” or “9 to 5.” All of these pop culture staples are, of course, remarkable accomplishments, but it’s Parton’s heart and complete dedication to the benefit of humanity through her philanthropic efforts that make her the idol she is and always will be. From the ‘80s all the way through to the 2020s, Parton always gave more than she received and sought to protect and assist those who had less than her and remained humble and kind her entire life.
Her work began back in 1988 in the place she was born, Sevier County, Tennessee, where she started The Dollywood Foundation. This initiative sought to decrease the local high school drop out rate through scholarships and donations, and she ended up decreasing the rate from 35% to 6%. The Dollywood Foundation’s Imagination Library was started in 1995 and is likely Parton’s most famous humanitarian work.
The library started out by sending one free book a month to children in Sevier Country from birth until about age 5. Nowadays, however, Parton’s organization has reached children in all 50 United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Republic of Ireland. Over the last 30 or so years of the Imagination Library, over 304 million books have been donated to children all over the world.
In 2016, due to the frequent wildfires that often plague Tennessee and the surrounding areas, Parton once again lifted up her community through the My People Fund, a charity that provides $1,000 a month for six months to families whose homes and lives have been uprooted and destroyed by a natural disaster. This fund has donated a total of around $8.9 million to those in need. To this day, the My People Fund still assists those who need it money for rent, food/water, healthcare and other utilities.
Parton also made major headlines for advocating passionately for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, and in 2020, she made a $1 million donation to researchers at Vanderbilt University. This donation ended up being a huge contribution to Moderna’s eventual COVID-19 vaccine, which is reported as being 94.5% effective. Parton even received the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy in 2022 for all of her relentless kindness.
Parton truly covered every possible corner of advocacy and charitability in every single decade of her life and beyond. Whether it’s the literacy and education of young people, medical research and million dollar donations to hospitals, endless money sent to aid in disaster relief efforts or simply just speaking kindly about herself and those around her, she made her mark in every possible way. She even donated a generous portion of her $10 million in royalties from Whitney Houston’s cover of “I Will Always Love You” to a historically Black Nashville community.
Parton always spoke passionately about the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, she stood strongly behind the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020 and she generally condemned her fellow Christians for not practicing what they preached in terms of radical love and acceptance for all marginalized groups, the exact policy she always believed in.
She turned down three Presidential Medals of Freedom and actively fought against achieving billionaire status, even though she easily could have, by making the choice every day to not hoard her wealth and make a difference. A lesson the rich and powerful of now could still stand to learn. You can donate to the Imagination Library here, and in honor of Dolly Parton’s legacy, remember to always treat yourself and others with kindness and respect because, at the end of the day, we are remembered for the values and beliefs we held, not the money we made.
Angie Nixon (she/her), a Florida State Representative, is running of the Democratic nomination. There has not been a Democrat in the U.S. Senate from Florida since 2018. Angie is a Black millennial ally to and fighter for the LGBTQ+ community who advocates for economic justice for the working class: a $25 minimum wage, rent stabilization, curbing corporate purchasing of residential housing, protecting reproductive rights, Medicare for All, and universal childcare and Pre-K.
Angie co-wrote a children’s book with her daughter called The Adventures of Moxie McGriff to help her embrace her natural hair, which ultimately transformed into a movement to boost self-esteem in young Black girls. She co-founded the Melanin Market in Jacksonville, FL, to provide healthy food options in a food desert while supporting local minority-owned small businesses. Angie also owns a bookstore and coffee shop in Jacksonville called Cafe Resistance, which she specifically created to serve as a community hub, provide free tutoring, and proudly stock the books that extremist Republicans in Florida are trying to ban. In May of this year, Angie was reprimanded by the Florida State House because for protesting the racist new congressional voting maps and she is now being prosecuted by DeSantis for peacefully protesting these maps in his office after he refused to meet with her.