More Than a Country Star: Dolly Parton and the Black Community.

(ThyBlackMan.com) Country legend Dolly Parton was known for her powerful voice, bubbly personality, and timeless music. But there was another side of Dolly Parton, a side that she quietly and consistently showed up for the Black community. As a lad, this writer grew up in the “hood” but was fascinated by a song recorded by this talented country music artist. My daughter, Dr Kathryn, would often ask me facetiously, “Dad, how did you become so eclectic when it comes to music?” I don’t know; music is like Christian values, you get out of it what you see and hear! I retorted. “Here You Come Again,” by Dolly Parton, was a positive, uplifting love song that had an optimistic effect on me personally; consequently, her money and her human decency helped define her works of grandeur for her fellow man.

The Song That Built a Neighborhood

Dolly Parton wrote “I Will Always Love You” in 1973 as a goodbye letter to her boss, Porter Wagoner, who she was leaving to go out on her own as a solo artist. This was the song that built a neighborhood. The tender song of love and heartache was written by the then young Parton and has become one of the most covered songs in history.

Some 20-odd years later, Whitney Houston would record her own version of the song for a film, creating one of the best-selling singles of all time. The Bodyguard was a global phenomenon, in which Parton would again collect all the songwriter royalties from the song’s massive success. And as for the actual money, Parton would later reveal how that was spent too.

The best purchase she made with that cash, according to Parton, was a strip mall in a historically Black neighborhood in Nashville. “It was mostly just Black families and people that lived around there,” she said. “And I thought that this was the perfect place for me to be, considering that it was Whitney. I’m just going to be down here with her people, who are my people as well. This is the house that Whitney built.”

That was not a press release. That was a woman who made about $10 million from the voice of a Black artist and would go on to invest hugely in the Black community.

Whitney Houston: A Friendship Rooted in Respect

Dolly Parton told Andy Cohen that one thing she wished had happened during Whitney’s time on earth is to have had the opportunity to sing with her. “I wish that could’ve happened,” she said. “I would have loved that. But I don’t think I could have come up to snuff with her, though. She’d have out-sung me on that one for sure.”

That kind of humility is rarely seen. Dolly Parton is one of the greatest songwriters of all time and yet here she was handing all of the credit to one of the greatest singers of all time for a fantastic version of her song. She celebrated it by allowing Whitney’s masterpiece to stand on its own unique merit and honored the song’s new meaning by investing the proceeds to help kids from less fortunate backgrounds.

There was clearly a lot of respect between Parton and Whitney – and all of this transcended genre, race, and age. This was proof that true admiration has no boundary lines.

Beyoncé, Cowboy Carter, and a Door Wide Open

Beyoncé released her highly-anticipated studio album, Cowboy Carter, on March 29, 2024. The album which explores the deep roots of country music by Black artists secured multiple Grammy wins for the global superstar. Not only did the Queen reinvent the hit “Jolene” written and recorded by the Queen of Country, Dolly Parton, but Dolly was thrilled with the interpretation.

“She’s giving that girl some trouble,” Parton said about Beyoncé’s Jolene, “and she deserves it!” Dolly appeared on Cowboy Carter performing the album’s interlude “Dolly P” and also the song “Tyrant”. She opened the door wide open and walked through it with Beyoncé.

Dolly Parton died on August 25, 2026, at age 80, and Beyoncé called her “the barometer” and “The North Star.” She also wrote, “You taught so many lessons on how to be uniquely yourself and I’m so honored that I got to work with you. I will treasure that forever.”

That is not a tribute to write to someone you barely knew. That is a tribute to write to someone who has inspired you to see your place in music history.

The Imagination Library: 300 Million Books and Counting

Dolly Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995. Every month of every year from birth to age five children could receive a brand new, free book in the mail. Regardless of the income of their parents or where they lived in the world.

Her father could not read a book. She wanted to change that for every child on the planet to grow up in a home where there were books, everywhere.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library was already distributing free books to children all over the world and by the time of her passing, It had gifted more than 304 million books to children in the United States, Canada, the UK, Australia, and Ireland. For children in Black households and in poverty-stricken communities where the public library is far, that single book every month was frequently the only new book they had. Children who are not reading proficiently by the third grade are four times more likely to not graduate from high school in time, according to research. Dolly Parton was fighting against this long before it became a topic of conversation.

She Said It When It Wasn’t Easy to Say

It was a chaotic time in the world in 2020. George Floyd was killed and the Black Lives Matter movement erupted across the country with protests filling the streets in every town and city. Most celebrities remained silent but Dolly Parton was not one of them.

“Of course Black lives matter,” she said. Simple. Direct. No hedging. This statement was especially courageous and risky for a country music singer who has a mostly white fan base, but she said it anyway.

Dolly Parton also donated $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support both the research and the treatment for the coronavirus which was rapidly spreading across the world in that same year. Funding from her donation helped to develop the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. The pandemic — and its resulting hospitalizations and deaths — have hit Black communities particularly hard. Dolly’s contribution to coronavirus research, therefore, is in part a racial-justice donation.

She even took “Dixie” off of one of her own branded attractions in 2018, rebranding it quietly without any form of drama. “As soon as you realize something is wrong you should fix it,” she told Billboard. Wise words and a good show of accountability without debate.

Closing Thoughts: Whose Celebration Is This, Really?

Dolly Parton hailed from a very small cabin in the hills of East Tennessee with 12 other siblings, and they had very little money and few opportunities. That origin shaped her in terms of being generous and of knowing what it is like to need something and not able to have it.

She also knew that it was Black artists, Black audiences and Black cultural institutions that had lifted her to her highest height. Whitney Houston made her a global songwriter. Beyoncé made her a country music revolutionary. And Black fans chose to embrace her as one of their own and made her a legend.

Dolly Parton repaid the favor in the form of strip malls, a scholarship program, millions of children’s books and two simple words of praise at the precise moment to deliver them.

As Beyoncé said, she was the North Star. And our beloved friend will be deeply missed by the Black community that she so adored and that so adored her as well.

Associate Editor; Stanley G. Buford

Feel free to connect with this brother via Twitter; Stanley G. and also facebook; http://www.facebook.com/sgbuford.

Also his email addy is; StanleyG@ThyBlackMan.com.