Megathread written by @JamesConeZone@hexbear.net

Malvina Reynolds (August 23, 1900 – March 17, 1978) was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist, best known for her songwriting, particularly the songs "Little Boxes" and "What Have They Done to the Rain." Malvina was born in San Francisco, California, United States, to David and Abagail Milder, Jewish socialist immigrants who opposed involvement in World War I. Her mother was born in Russia, and her father was born in Hungary. On the morning of her high-school graduation, Malvina's teacher told her that she and her cousin were to be refused their diplomas in front of everybody because her parents opposed the US interceding in WW1 and for being socialists.

While she was in high school, Malvina first met William “Bud” Reynolds at a socialist dance. She married someone else, and so did Bud (after he proposed and she refused). He ran for governor of Michigan on the Socialist ticket, with the slogan, “You provide the evictions, we’ll provide the riots!” They found each other again after she was divorced, and this time she said yes. She married Bud, a carpenter and labor organizer, in 1934. The FBI had a large file on her after she began writing for the Daily People's World, the CPUSA's official newspaper.

In 1932 during a fundraising party to defend the Scottsboro Bboys, black teenagers falsely accused of crimes, the KKK burned a cross at Malvina's parents home, dragged Malvina's family and friends from their home to assault them. When the police showed up, they arrested everyone, including her family. They imprisoned Malvina's family and left the KKK to roam free in the police station because they were sheriff deputies from Orange County. According to Malvina's daughter, Nancy: "There was a grand jury investigation. And the family was afraid that this would hurt their business that they were all living on [clothing tailor shop], this was in 1932 in the Depression. And they were really living off the trade from the sailors. Well, it turned out the sailors were mostly Irish Catholics. So the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And they kept the store."

She earned her BA and MA in English and her PhD in 1939. Though she was highly educated, she was also a socialist, Jewish, and a woman during the Depression and found no work. She became a social worker and columnist at CPUSA's official newspaper, an assembly line worker for a bomb casing factory during WW2, and then a naval tailor in her parents' shop in Long Beach.

Reynolds began her songwriting career late in life. She was in her late forties when she met Earl Robinson, Pete Seeger, and other folk singers. She returned to school at UC Berkeley, where she studied music theory. Reynolds went on to write several popular songs, including "Little Boxes" (1962), "What Have They Done to the Rain" (1962, about nuclear fallout), "It Isn't Nice" (1964, a civil rights anthem), "Turn Around" (1959, about children growing up), and "There's a Bottom Below" (about depression). Reynolds was also a noted composer of children's songs, including "Love Is Something (Magic Penny)" and "Morningtown Ride" (1957), a top-5 UK single (December 1966) recorded by The Seekers.

She was known in left circles, wrote songs for the Henry Wallace campaign in 1948 and got some acclaim later in life when Belafonte recorded "Turn Around." Reynolds' most famous song, "Little Boxes" made famous by Pete Seeger just at the time he was blacklisted, has enjoyed renewed popularity by being featured in Showtime's TV series Weeds. "Little Boxes" was inspired visually by the houses of Daly City, California.

Reynolds died on March 17, 1978, after pancreatitis caused her kidneys to fail. She wanted little fanfare to mark her passing—in "Wake for a Singer," Reynolds wrote, "Celebrate my death, of whom it could be said/She was a working-class woman and a red."

Her protests songs support unions and the working class explicitly, especially the Carolina Cotton Mill Song.

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  • letsride4x [she/her, they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    this reminded me of this one time when i was like 19 years old and the dude checking me out at walgreens asked me "would you like to buy any cigarettes?" when i was just buying deodorant or some shit, and i said no thanks, and he asked "oh? so you're just gonna let all these kids buy them then?"