Malvina Reynolds, born Malvina Milder on August 23, 1900 in San Francisco,
California, was an American folk/blues singer-songwriter and political activist.
She took violin lessons as a child and occasionally wrote music. Reynolds earned
degrees in English from the University of California, Berkeley, including a
doctorate completed in 1938. Her songwriting career began in her late forties
when she met notable figures like Earl Robinson and Pete Seeger. She wrote
several popular songs, including "Little Boxes" (1962), recorded by Pete Seeger
and others, and "What Have They Done to ...