Who do you see in the picture? What were they famous for?
The picture shows Dolly Parton who was a world famous country singer. Dolly died aged 80 over summer.
What do you know about Dolly Parton?
Dolly was born in to poverty in rural Tennessee in America. She had eleven brothers and sisters and they lived in a cabin on a farm in the mountains. Dolly wrote her own songs and by the time she died, Dolly had become one of the best selling music artists of all time.
Do you know any Dolly Parton songs? (you probably know the chorus to 9 to5, I will always love you, Islands in the stream)
But Dolly Parton was not just loved for her songs. Dolly became very famous for being "loved by everyone". In fact there was a study in 2026 by the University of Massachusetts to find the most popular person in America. Dolly won with 65% of the votes. Second place was Barak Obama with 14%.
There are lots of different people in America with different views on life today. People can disagree on issues around race, LGBT+ and politics...
So how do you think Dolly made herself so popular with everyone?
In order to be loved by everyone, do you have to keep your opinions quiet in case people disagree with you?
Author Carlos Whittaker wrote an article to try and understand why everyone loved Dolly.
"I think a lot of us tell ourselves that in order to be loved by everybody, we can't stand for anything. Well Dolly Parton's life will tell you that's a lie. She wasn't neutral. Neutral is easy; neutral is quiet. Dolly was not quiet."
What does Carlos mean by "not standing for anything"?
What does neutral mean?
Dolly often stood up for LGBT+ equality and she also spoke up for Black Lives Matter in 2020. There are different ideas about these things today; not everyone in America agrees. These can be hard things to talk about sometimes.
Why can it sometimes be hard to speak up and say your opinions?
One of the things Dolly did was use her money to create the Imagination Library. For twenty five years, this organisation sent free picture to children under five years old every month. "It didn't matter who you voted for, it didn't matter which church you went to or if you went to church at all. So by the time she said the hard thing, she had 25 years of proof that she loved them."
Carlos says, "Loved by everybody is not the same thing as agreed with by everybody. Dolly knew the difference."
What does this mean?
"Everybody wants to be loved like Dolly but not everybody wants to do what Dolly did. Because what what she did is harder than picking a side; what she did was harder than picking no side. You see, what she did was she told the truth, and then she left the door open. And if there's one thing I've learned from Dolly Parton, it's that you don't have to be quiet to be kind."
What does Carlos mean by 'leaving the door open'?
"You don't have to be quiet to be kind"- do you agree? Can you build on that?
What can we learn from Dolly Parton?
Why is this about No Outsiders?
Which British Value is this about?
Do you want this assembly as a power point? To join the free mailing list and receive these assemblies as power points every week, email me on a.moffat@excelsiormat.org
I usually send these out on a Sunday morning.
No Outsiders: We belong here by Andrew Moffat (scheme of work for primary schools)
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