Remembering Dolly Parton’s Legacy of Humanitarianism

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Often recognized for her voluminous golden hair, rhinestone-adorned fashion and cross-generational country records, Dolly Parton leaves behind a legacy beyond her glamorous appearance and music.

Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, into an impoverished family living in a one-bedroom home; despite having little, she found love in Appalachian folk ballads and creating songs with her family. Even as her successful music career took off, she never forgot her humble upbringing and devoted her life to giving back to communities. 

Parton’s first major humanitarian endeavor was establishing her non-profit organization, The Dollywood Foundation, in 1988, originally to support educational opportunities for students in her home community of Sevier County, Tennessee. 

The Dollywood Foundation's first initiative was the Buddy Program in 1991, in which she promised every seventh and eighth-grade student $500 if they graduated. After the implementation of the Buddy Program, Sevier County’s graduation rate increased from about 65-67% to 94%.

Parton began her most famous philanthropic endeavor that supported literacy for children across the globe in 1995, known as the Imagination Library. She was inspired by her father, Robert Lee Parton, who was unable to finish school or learn how to read and write due to growing up in poverty. The objective of Parton’s Imagination Library was to mail books to children under five for free every month to ensure that children have access to literacy and to instill the love of reading at a young age.

The program was initially launched locally to serve the communities in Servier County, but by 2000, it began to expand across the United States. The next year, Imagination Library was operating in eleven states through local community sponsorships, and nearly 30,000 new children gained access to books through the program. Following this, it also made an effort to include Native American communities, where preschoolers in 92 indigenous communities were able to be recipients.

Parton continued to expand her goal of literacy to the youth, and after significant success in the United States, Imagination Library launched in Canada in 2006, the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013, and in Ireland in 2019. She partnered with The American Printing House for the Blind to produce versions of children’s books with both audio and Braille by 2011 so that all children, regardless of visual impairments, could have access to books.

In 2026, nearly 1 in 6 American children have access to free books through Imagination Library, and over three million books are mailed to children every month. Parton said that even as a child, she knew it was her dream to be a star, and that she hoped the books she delivered to children across the world would help them to pursue their dreams as well.

It’s rare for a celebrity to devote so much of their life to kindness. The wealth the once-poor girl from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee earned through her prolific career as a country star was given back through the Dollywood Foundation, donations and scholarships. Parton leaves behind a legacy of making the world a better place, whether it’s through the captivating storytelling in her music or the stories in Imagination Library’s children’s books.