Wonder, Stevie 271and Literary Tradition, ed. Marjorie Pryse and Hortense J.
Spillers. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.
Miller, R. Baxter. “Th e ‘Intricate Design’ of Margaret Walker: Lit-
erature and Biblical Re-Creation in Southern History.” In
Black American Poets between Worlds, 19 40– 1960 , ed. R.
Baxter Miller. Knoxville: Th e University of Tennessee Press,
1986.Wonder, Stevie
An internationally renowned musician, composer, pro-
ducer, humanitarian, and social activist, Stevie Wonder
(1950–) is one of the most well-known and successful artists
on the original Motown label. Wonder’s career, beginning
in his early teens, spans over four decades and has earned
him international acclaim. Th e multitalented artist plays
at least seven instruments and continues to draw new and
younger listeners while maintaining a solid international
fan base. His activism and concern with humanitarian is-
sues, which is refl ected in both his actions and his music,
has also contributed to his enduring appeal.
Stevie Wonder was born Steveland Hardaway Judkins
in Saginaw, Michigan. He later moved to Detroit, where he
changed his last name to Steveland Morris, a name that he
uses today. As a premature infant, Wonder was exposed to
excessive levels of oxygen in his incubator that rendered
him blind. He developed a refi ned hearing sensibility and
a gift for music. By the time he was 12 years old, Stevie
had learned to play a number of instruments, including
the piano, drums, and harmonica. Aft er being discov-
ered by Ronnie White of the Miracles, Stevie was signed
to Motown Records. Motown mogul Berry Gordy, quickly
renamed the youth “Little Stevie Wonder,” and by age 13,
Wonder had scored his fi rst major hit with the song “Fin-
gertips.” As a teen, Stevie Wonder went on to score a num-
ber of hits for the Motown record label, including “Uptight
(Everything’s Alright),” “With a Child’s Heart,” and many
others. He also began to compose and produce hit songs
for other Motown artists.
Although Wonder scored numerous hit records with
Motown as a teen, either himself or as a songwriter for
others, it was when he reached adulthood that his artistic
genius began to fl ourish. When Stevie Wonder turned 21,
he brokered a deal with Motown that gave him full artistic
control over his music as well as ownership of his work.to live in her father/master’s house, where she becomes the
servant of his daughter, Lillian, and the object of loathing of
his wife, Big Missy Salina. As a teenager, Vyry becomes the
house cook. Randall Ware, a freeborn black man who works
as a blacksmith, unsuccessfully tries to buy Vyry’s freedom.
On the eve of the Civil War, and before her 20th birthday,
Vyry births three of Ware’s children. Ware becomes a black-
smith for the Union Army in 1862, and Vyry remains on
the plantation. Aft er the war, Vyry marries Innis Brown,
and the couple work as sharecroppers in Alabama. Th e Ku
Klux Klan burns down their home, forcing them to fl ee.
Th ey eventually fi nd a town in which to live, where their
white neighbors help them build a new house, and Vyry
and Innis are able to start a new life.
Not only is the book well researched and poignantly
written, but it is also a novel about a black woman’s experi-
ence, written by a black woman writer, and this element of
the novel cannot be overemphasized.
Walker is also the author of How I Wrote Jubilee (1972),
A Poetic Equation: Conversations between Margaret Walker
and Nikki Giovanni (1974), Th e Daemonic Genius of Richard
Wright (1982), Th is Is My Century: New and Collected Poems
(1988), and How I Wrote Jubilee and Other Essays on Life and
Literature (1990). Other awards and honors she received in-
clude a Fulbright Fellowship in 1971, a National Endowment
for the Humanities in 1972, an honorary doctorate in litera-
ture from Northwestern University in 1974, an honorary
doctorate of letters from Rust College in 1974, an honorary
doctorate of fi ne arts from Dennison University in 1974, and
an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Morgan State
University in 1976. Walker died in Chicago, in 1998.
See also: Brooks, Gwendolyn; Haley, Alex; Wright, Richard
Jessica Noelle ApuzzoBibliography
Barksdale, Richard K. “Margaret Walker: Folk Orature and His-
torical Prophecy.” In Black American Poets between Worlds,
19 40– 1960 , ed. R. Baxter Miller. Knoxville: Th e University of
Tennessee Press, 1986.
Davies, Arthur P. From the Dark Tower. Afro-American Writ-
ers 19 00– 19 60. Washington, D.C.: Howard University
Press, 1974.
Emanuel, James A., and Th eodore L. Gross, eds. Dark Symphony.
Negro Literature in America. New York: Free Press, 1968.
Evans, Mari. Black Women Writers ( 19 50– 19 80). A Critical Evalu-
ation. Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1984.
Gwin, Minrose C. “Jubilee: Th e Black Woman’s Celebration of
Human Community.” In Conjuring. Black Women, Fiction,