Let’s hop in our metaphorical time machine and take a trip down memory lane. Today we’ll take a look at a couple artists that received honorary degrees on this day in country music history.
On May 8th, 1976 ‘The Man in Black’ Johnny Cash received an honorary degree from San Diego’s National University. Cash’s degree was a Doctorate of Human Letters. To go along with receiving the honorary degree, San Diego mayor Pete Wilson also made May 8th, 1976 ‘Johnny Cash Day’.
Sticking with the theme, let’s move ahead to May 8th, 2009. On this day in 2009 Dolly Parton was at the University of Tennessee to deliver the commencement speech to the graduating students in the College of Arts and Sciences that semester. During the ceremony Dolly also received her honorary degree from UT. She received a Doctorate of Humane and Musical Letters from the University. To date it was only the second honorary degree that the University of Tennessee had given.
