Georgia Southern University Digital Commons@Georgia Southern Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of Spring 2017 The Parton Paradox: A History of Race and Gender in the Career of Dolly Parton Lindsey L. Hammers Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/etd Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, Cultural History Commons, Film and Media Studies Commons, History of Gender Commons, Music Performance Commons, Social History Commons, Television Commons, United States History Commons, Women's History Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Hammers, Lindsey L. "The Parton Paradox: A History of Race and Gender in the Career of Dolly Parton." Master's thesis, Georgia Southern University, 2017. This thesis (open access) is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies, Jack N. Averitt College of at Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Georgia Southern. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE PARTON PARADOX: A HISTORY OF RACE AND GENDER IN THE CAREER OF DOLLY PARTON by LINDSEY HAMMERS (Under the Direction of Christina Abreu) ABSTRACT With a career that has spanned over five decades, country music artist Dolly Parton has continually redefined her image and her music to remain relevant. By incorporating the musical and lyrical stylings of disco and other popular music genres into her songs, Parton moved beyond music’s color line to increase her popularity as an artist. This thesis shows how Parton established a distinct career that catered to different audiences as she traversed the musical color line and repackaged what feminism looked like to country music fans during the Women’s Movement of the 1960s.