AMERICAN TREASURE: Dolly Parton has been secretly funding predominantly Black schools for decades

There is little arguing over the fact that Dolly Parton is a national treasure, artistically and philanthropically. In fact, if ever the Pope canonized any American, it would have to be Dolly Rebecca Parton.

And, unlike that episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where the always politically incorrect Larry David character wanted his charitable donation to be screamed out to the world, Parton is humble, doesn’t emblazon her name all over every charity to which she donates, as seen in this week’s latest discovery by writer Michael Harriot, who Tweeted:

Here’s a quietly wonderful thing I noticed:

If you talk to someone who was in choir or band at a majority Black HS, you’ll eventually discuss those annoying fundraisers for uniforms, instruments, etc. & a SURPRISING number will casually say:

“Oh, Dolly Parton paid for ours”

— Michael Harriot (@michaelharriot) October 6, 2022

That’s right. Dolly Parton has silently funded uniforms, instruments, and equipment to predominantly Black high schools for decades.

Around the same time period, Pigeon Forge was growing. Middle School bursting at the seams and 2+ kids sharing lockers. Shr called up the BOE told them to replace the lockers so we all had our own and to send her the bill. She's amazing.

— MG Hoover (@mghooverwriter) October 6, 2022

Since the mid-1980s, the Sevierville, Tennessee songbird has notably done wonders in the world of literacy through her  Dollywood Foundation — Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mails one book per month to each enrolled child from the time of their birth until they enter kindergarten.  A whopping 850,000 children a month across the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia, and Ireland receive books from Parton to the tune of 100 million books, an unprecedented feat honored in 2018 by the Library of Congress.

That same foundation, funded from Parton’s profits, has been hailed for bringing jobs and tax revenues to a previously depressed region of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, now bolstered by her booming theme park empire that is Dollywood. When the wildfires blazed through the Great Smoky Mountains in 2016, Parton’s foundation provided $1,000 a month for six months to over 900 area families affected by the fires.

She also has worked to raise money for the American Red Cross and HIV/AIDS-related charities, and, most recently, donated another $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in its help with the development of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

It’s sort of funny how the bedazzled woman who admitted that “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap,” is so humble when it comes to her humanitarianism, but that’s what makes her worthy of sainthood.

Years ago, my grandma was in first class next to Dolly. People kept coming over to say hello, so eventually grandma somewhat snobbishly asked if greeting all those fans annoyed her. Dolly just said "those people are why I'm in first class." That stuck with my grandma.

— Andrew Ballard (@BallardAndrew) October 6, 2022

What Parton doesn’t keep quiet is her support for the LGBTQ community (she’s an LGBTQ icon) and the Black Lives Matter movement, risking the alienation of a big chunk of her fan base, though nothing Parton does seems to alienate her base. That’s what makes her unique in these challenging, divisive times.

In a 2020 interview with Billboard, the typically apolitical (but left-leaning and fiercely feminist) Parton admitted that, indeed, black lives do matter:

"Of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” –@DollyParton on supporting the #BlackLivesMatter movement and protests.

Check out the full cover story here: https://t.co/AN9zNk1dRX pic.twitter.com/Oe1ZfZAl2t

— billboard (@billboard) August 14, 2020

In 1946, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, the “mother of women’s missions,” became the first American citizen to be canonized.

Hey, Pope Francis, it’s time for Saint Dolly Rebecca Parton, the “mother of humble humanity” to become the latest — even if she isn’t Catholic.

Lesley Abravanel’s first cassette tape was the 9 to 5 soundtrack. A former entertainment columnist who realized that fighting fascism is more important than keeping up with the Kardashians, Abravanel has been to Dollywood several times and is a self-professed Parton stan. 

Follow her on Twitter@LesleyAbravanel.

This is an opinion column that solely reflects the opinions of the author.

Lesley Abravanel

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