Janet Braun-Reinitz


Janet Braun-Reinitz is a muralist, painter and activist committed to social justice. Her ongoing involvement in civil rights activism began in 1961 when she was a Freedom Rider. During one incident in Little Rock, Arkansas, she was arrested and was jailed from July 8 to 15. She subsequently worked at the national office of CORE and was the head of the CORE chapter in Rochester, NY in 1962-3. She is the subject of the documentary, Interview with Janet Braun-Reinitz for the Freedom Riders 40th Anniversary Oral History Project, 2001, published by the University of Mississippi, excerpts are included in the film, The Children Shall Lead.
In 1983, she co-founded Tasteful Ladies for Peace of Ithaca, New York. This organization was involved in peaceful protests promoting reproductive choice and protesting against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Today, Braun-Reinitz works as a muralist and studio artist based in New York City. Since she began creating murals in 1984, Braun-Reinitz has painted more than 60 murals in seven countries, including India, Ghana, England, Georgia, Italy, Nicaragua and the United States. Her 3,300-square-foot mural titled "When Women Pursue Justice"' can be found in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. This mural was created in collaboration with 12 other women artists and Artmakers Inc.
Her studio work is in collections as diverse as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Oakland Museum of California, Bristol-Myers Squibb, PAD/D Archives and MOMA.

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