Ms. Hardaway’s back story has been written about over the past decades, yet the one facet of her life coming of age in the public schools of East Chicago, Indiana always seems missing. As a native of East Chicago, I’ve always felt compelled to address the lack of reference to East Chicago in her story.
As a girl, Ms. Hardaway moved from Alabama to East Chicago, where she attended Columbus Elementary School in her New Addition neighborhood and went on to complete her studies at Washington Junior and Senior High Schools. The biographies cited in this post and other published works are remiss and in error to negate those critical years Stevie’s mom spent near her large extended family.
Ms. Hardaway moved to Saginaw, Michigan, where Stevie and his younger siblings grew up. Stevie’s oldest brother Milton Hardaway remained in East Chicago, also a graduate of Washington High School, and later worked as his talented brother’s Personal Manager.
Stevie and his siblings were close. He would return to East Chicago to spend time with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins during school vacations. The family later settled in Detroit. Throughout the ensuing years, Stevie remained close to his proud East Chicago roots and regularly visited his large extended family in East Chicago’s New Addition and Calumet neighborhoods.
So, for publishers and authors to ignore Ms. Hardaway’s and Stevie’s historic connections ingrained in her development years coming of age in East Chicago is not totally historically accurate. The quality of education both Ms. Hardaway and Milton received in East Chicago public schools back then was broad and among our nation’s finest.
The quality of the compositions Ms. Hardaway co-wrote with Stevie, some of which became Stevie’s global hits, are a product of her natural God-given talent. No doubt East Chicagoans who are both proud of her growing up and coming of age in that city would also like to believe that her talents as a writer in part were solidified by a first-rate education in East Chicago schools. I’ve no doubt that Stevie’s brother Milton would confirm the same, and Stevie’s many visits to his East Chicago family attest to his love for that part of his roots.
East Chicago loves Ms. Lula Mae Hardaway and the Hardaway and Morris families are aware of the pride we share. It’s time for serious book publishers and movie and media producers to get the story right. Ms. Hardaway’s back-story does not start in Michigan. The beauty, joy, and pain in the in-between years are often the unseen glue that give a life’s narrative coherence. It’s a shame that the story of such an important cultural icon as Stevie Wonder omits this rich, edifying nuance of East Chicago’s influence. It’s high time to get the story right. I’ve had the privilege of speaking with Stevie and I’ve no doubt he embraces his family’s deep roots in East Chicago.
Dennis Llewellyn Day 4.19.24