Establish January 19th as Dolly Parton Day
The Issue
Make January 19 National Dolly Parton Day: A Petition to the United States Congress
There are artists who become famous. There are Humanitarians who change lives. There are Philanthropists who give generously. And every so often, there is an American whose life manages to encompass all of those things. Dolly Parton was one of them.
We respectfully call upon the United States Congress to recognize January 19, Dolly Parton's birthday, as National Dolly Parton Day or NATIONAL DOLLY DAY - an annual day honoring her extraordinary contributions to American Music, Arts & Culture, Literacy, Philanthropy and Humanitarian Service and encouraging Americans to carry forward the values by which she lived.
Dolly's story is, in many ways, the embodiment of what generations once called the American Dream. Born into poverty in the mountains of East Tennessee and raised with eleven siblings in a two-room cabin without electricity or running water, she possessed little materially but an extraordinary talent, an imagination and an unwavering belief that something more was possible. She turned those things into one of the most remarkable American lives of the last century.
AN AMERICAN MUSICAL LEGACY
As a songwriter, singer, musician and performer, Dolly created a body of work that transcended genre, geography and generations. She wrote thousands of songs, sold more than 100 million records, earned 11 Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Songs including Jolene, Coat of Many Colors, 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You became pieces of American cultural history.
But Dolly's significance to the arts extends beyond awards and record sales. She was a songwriter first. She told stories about poverty, working people, women, heartbreak, ambition, family, dignity and home. She took the experiences of people who were often overlooked and gave those experiences a voice.
And while building an extraordinary career of her own, she opened doors for generations of women who came after her.
A LEGACY OF LITERACY
Perhaps the most remarkable measure of Dolly Parton's life cannot be found on a record chart at all. In 1995, inspired by her father, who could not read or write, Dolly created the Imagination Library in her home county in Tennessee.
What began as an effort to give books to local children became one of the world's great childhood literacy initiatives. By June 2026, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library had gifted more than 325 million books to children and was distributing more than 3.5 million free books every month across the United States and internationally.
Millions of children who may never have owned a book of their own have opened a mailbox and found one addressed specifically to them. That is not simply philanthropy. That is changing the trajectory of generations.
A HUMANITARIAN
When communities suffered, Dolly repeatedly showed up. Following the devastating 2016 wildfires in East Tennessee, she created the My People Fund to provide direct financial assistance to families who had lost their homes.
When the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic, Dolly donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for coronavirus research. Her contribution supported critical early research connected to the development and testing of the Moderna vaccine.
Her generosity extended across education, healthcare, disaster relief, children's causes and countless charitable efforts --often performed without fanfare. Dolly understood something remarkably simple: Success means more when you use it to lift someone else.
THE AMERICAN DREAM AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IT
Dolly Parton's life represented an American ideal that can sometimes feel increasingly difficult to find. A child born with very little dreamed of something greater. She worked for it. She achieved it. She never hid where she came from.
And when success finally gave her the ability to have almost anything she wanted, she chose again and again to give something back. She created jobs and economic opportunity in the region that raised her. She invested in children she would never meet. She helped families rebuild homes. She helped put books into children's hands. She supported science that helped save lives.
And somehow, through decades of enormous cultural and political division, Dolly remained something extraordinarily rare: a person Americans from remarkably different backgrounds could love at the same time. She never needed people to look like her, live like her, believe exactly what she believed or come from where she came from in order to treat them with dignity.
Kindness was not something Dolly Parton marketed. It was something she practiced.
National Dolly Parton Day or NATIONAL DOLLY DAY should not simply be a day to play her records and remember an extraordinary entertainer. It should represent something larger...
Let January 19 become a day when Americans are encouraged to read to a child, donate a book, help a neighbor, support a community, perform an act of kindness, give what they can and leave someone else's corner of the world a little better than they found it. THIS would be a fitting legacy.
Because perhaps the greatest tribute America could give Dolly Parton isn't simply remembering what she accomplished. It is remembering what she stood for:
Talent without arrogance.
Success without forgetting where you came from.
Conviction without cruelty.
Individuality without judgment.
And prosperity accompanied by generosity.
At a moment when our country could use more reasons to remember what we share rather than what divides us, there may be no more appropriate American to remind us.
We therefore respectfully ask the United States Congress to recognize January 19 as National Dolly Parton Day, honoring Dolly Parton's extraordinary contributions to American arts and culture, literacy, philanthropy and humanitarian service and encouraging Americans to commemorate the day through kindness, literacy, generosity and service to others. She showed us what one person could do with an American dream. Now let one day each year remind us what we can do for one another.
JANUARY 19 - NATIONAL DOLLY PARTON DAY a.k.a. NATIONAL DOLLY DAY.
Please sign. Please share. And help us make it official.
46
The Issue
Make January 19 National Dolly Parton Day: A Petition to the United States Congress
There are artists who become famous. There are Humanitarians who change lives. There are Philanthropists who give generously. And every so often, there is an American whose life manages to encompass all of those things. Dolly Parton was one of them.
We respectfully call upon the United States Congress to recognize January 19, Dolly Parton's birthday, as National Dolly Parton Day or NATIONAL DOLLY DAY - an annual day honoring her extraordinary contributions to American Music, Arts & Culture, Literacy, Philanthropy and Humanitarian Service and encouraging Americans to carry forward the values by which she lived.
Dolly's story is, in many ways, the embodiment of what generations once called the American Dream. Born into poverty in the mountains of East Tennessee and raised with eleven siblings in a two-room cabin without electricity or running water, she possessed little materially but an extraordinary talent, an imagination and an unwavering belief that something more was possible. She turned those things into one of the most remarkable American lives of the last century.
AN AMERICAN MUSICAL LEGACY
As a songwriter, singer, musician and performer, Dolly created a body of work that transcended genre, geography and generations. She wrote thousands of songs, sold more than 100 million records, earned 11 Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Songs including Jolene, Coat of Many Colors, 9 to 5 and I Will Always Love You became pieces of American cultural history.
But Dolly's significance to the arts extends beyond awards and record sales. She was a songwriter first. She told stories about poverty, working people, women, heartbreak, ambition, family, dignity and home. She took the experiences of people who were often overlooked and gave those experiences a voice.
And while building an extraordinary career of her own, she opened doors for generations of women who came after her.
A LEGACY OF LITERACY
Perhaps the most remarkable measure of Dolly Parton's life cannot be found on a record chart at all. In 1995, inspired by her father, who could not read or write, Dolly created the Imagination Library in her home county in Tennessee.
What began as an effort to give books to local children became one of the world's great childhood literacy initiatives. By June 2026, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library had gifted more than 325 million books to children and was distributing more than 3.5 million free books every month across the United States and internationally.
Millions of children who may never have owned a book of their own have opened a mailbox and found one addressed specifically to them. That is not simply philanthropy. That is changing the trajectory of generations.
A HUMANITARIAN
When communities suffered, Dolly repeatedly showed up. Following the devastating 2016 wildfires in East Tennessee, she created the My People Fund to provide direct financial assistance to families who had lost their homes.
When the world faced the COVID-19 pandemic, Dolly donated $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center for coronavirus research. Her contribution supported critical early research connected to the development and testing of the Moderna vaccine.
Her generosity extended across education, healthcare, disaster relief, children's causes and countless charitable efforts --often performed without fanfare. Dolly understood something remarkably simple: Success means more when you use it to lift someone else.
THE AMERICAN DREAM AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM IT
Dolly Parton's life represented an American ideal that can sometimes feel increasingly difficult to find. A child born with very little dreamed of something greater. She worked for it. She achieved it. She never hid where she came from.
And when success finally gave her the ability to have almost anything she wanted, she chose again and again to give something back. She created jobs and economic opportunity in the region that raised her. She invested in children she would never meet. She helped families rebuild homes. She helped put books into children's hands. She supported science that helped save lives.
And somehow, through decades of enormous cultural and political division, Dolly remained something extraordinarily rare: a person Americans from remarkably different backgrounds could love at the same time. She never needed people to look like her, live like her, believe exactly what she believed or come from where she came from in order to treat them with dignity.
Kindness was not something Dolly Parton marketed. It was something she practiced.
National Dolly Parton Day or NATIONAL DOLLY DAY should not simply be a day to play her records and remember an extraordinary entertainer. It should represent something larger...
Let January 19 become a day when Americans are encouraged to read to a child, donate a book, help a neighbor, support a community, perform an act of kindness, give what they can and leave someone else's corner of the world a little better than they found it. THIS would be a fitting legacy.
Because perhaps the greatest tribute America could give Dolly Parton isn't simply remembering what she accomplished. It is remembering what she stood for:
Talent without arrogance.
Success without forgetting where you came from.
Conviction without cruelty.
Individuality without judgment.
And prosperity accompanied by generosity.
At a moment when our country could use more reasons to remember what we share rather than what divides us, there may be no more appropriate American to remind us.
We therefore respectfully ask the United States Congress to recognize January 19 as National Dolly Parton Day, honoring Dolly Parton's extraordinary contributions to American arts and culture, literacy, philanthropy and humanitarian service and encouraging Americans to commemorate the day through kindness, literacy, generosity and service to others. She showed us what one person could do with an American dream. Now let one day each year remind us what we can do for one another.
JANUARY 19 - NATIONAL DOLLY PARTON DAY a.k.a. NATIONAL DOLLY DAY.
Please sign. Please share. And help us make it official.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on August 25, 2026