Long before corporate statements about racial justice became commonplace, Dolly Parton demonstrated her values through her money, music and philanthropy—from investing Whitney Houston royalties in Black Nashville to putting free books into the hands of millions of children.

Dolly Parton grew up poor, one of 12 children living in a one-room cabin in the foothills of Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains. She went on to become a country music legend, Hollywood actor, businesswoman and cultural icon known around the world simply as Dolly.

Yet for all her success in an industry that has long struggled with diversity, Parton developed a special relationship with many in Black America. Following her death at age 80, Black leaders and entertainers were among those who remembered not only her music, but also the way she used her influence and wealth.

Parton was a White woman who seemed to ‘get it.’ She understood something about struggle, about being dismissed and about what it means to need an opportunity. More importantly, she didn’t limit that understanding to people who looked like her.

During the racial reckoning following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, Parton didn’t dance around the issue.

“I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” Parton told Billboard. “And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little White asses are the only ones that matter? No!”

It was vintage Dolly: direct, uncomplicated and unmistakable.

But words are easy. Parton’s record is more interesting because of what she did.

Perhaps no example better illustrates that than the extraordinary second life of Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You.’

Parton wrote and recorded the song in the 1970s, but Whitney Houston transformed it into a worldwide phenomenon with her recording for The Bodyguard. Houston’s version generated enormous royalties for Parton.

Parton later revealed that she used some of that money to purchase a commercial property in a predominantly Black Nashville neighborhood.

“It was mostly just Black families and people that lived around there,” Parton said in 2021. “I thought, ‘This is the perfect place for me to be, considering it was Whitney.’”

She jokingly referred to the investment as “the house that Whitney built.”

There was something appropriate about that decision. A Black woman’s extraordinary voice had generated tremendous new wealth from Parton’s composition, and Parton deliberately invested some of that wealth in a Black community.

Parton’s philanthropy was never exclusively about race, but much of it inevitably reached Black families and other communities struggling economically.

Her Imagination Library may be the greatest example.

Inspired by her father’s inability to read and write, Parton launched the program in 1995 to provide free books to children from birth to age five, regardless of family income.

The program eventually distributed more than 300 million books. By 2024, one in seven American children younger than five had received books through the program.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris called Parton “a true American icon” and singled out the millions of books she provided children as her favorite among Parton’s accomplishments.

Former President Barack Obama similarly remembered the magnitude of Parton’s journey and generosity.

“It’s hard to imagine many people having a bigger impact,” Obama wrote, pointing to her rise from a one-room cabin, her musical accomplishments, business empire and efforts to help millions of children learn to read.

Parton’s giving extended beyond literacy. Her foundation provided scholarships, supported schools and created programs intended to encourage young people to graduate.

She also donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for COVID-19 research that contributed to development of Moderna’s vaccine and later provided another $1 million for pediatric infectious-disease research.

Parton’s relationship with Black music also continued late into her career.

She embraced Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, an album that explored country music and its Black roots. Parton appeared on the project, while Beyoncé offered her own dramatically reimagined version of Parton’s classic ‘Jolene.’

Rather than becoming territorial about one of her most famous compositions, Parton welcomed Beyoncé’s interpretation.

That openness mattered.

Country music has not always made Black artists or audiences feel welcome, despite the deep Black roots of the genre. Parton, one of country music’s most recognizable figures, demonstrated that celebrating another artist’s interpretation did not diminish her own legacy.

The same principle could be applied to much of her life.

Parton never needed to diminish someone else to elevate herself.

She remembered where she came from without romanticizing poverty. She understood that talent needs opportunity, that children need books and that sometimes people need someone willing to invest in them.

Perhaps that explains why so many Black Americans saw something authentic in Dolly Parton.

She didn’t have to experience racism to recognize injustice. She didn’t have to grow up Black to understand poverty. And she didn’t have to make Black causes the centerpiece of her public image to demonstrate that Black lives mattered to her.

She said it when saying it carried a cost in parts of her fan base.

Then, more importantly, she lived it.