Correction appended: An earlier version of this story stated Al Abrams was a PR consultant for Motown Records. He was a contract employee.

In the music world, unanimous acceptance, critical praise and unquestionable staying power are each difficult to achieve individually, let alone all at once. Every person has specific tastes, and every class, culture, gender and race has a style or sound unique to itself.

Flash back to the middle of the 20th century, when a Detroit-based record label broke these conventions of isolation and segregation and created a phenomenon that transcended normal explanation. Fifty years after its inception, Motown Records and the artists it produced have remained a topic of conversation in music, pop culture, academia and beyond.

The University’s Center for Afroamerican & African Studies, in conjunction with University Unions’ Arts and Programs Division and the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, has taken advantage of this common point of interest and gathered a diverse group of scholars, students and industry professionals to weigh in on the lasting impact of Motown.

“Growing Up Motown: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and the Making of Motown” will take place today and tomorrow at Palmer Commons. Today's events include a student panel highlighting various Motown-related projects at the University, a keynote address and a student performance by "The Motown.10," a jazz combo with School of Music, Theatre & Dance students. Friday will begin with a panel discussion, followed by a conversation with former Motown employees and two more panel discussions.

“People from the School of Music, Theatre & Dance … are talking about it from a historical and a cultural perspective," said MT&D Ph.D. Candidate Scott Edgar, member of the “Going to School on Motown” panel discussion."There’s people from Detroit talking about it in terms of an urban perspective, there’s people from recording agencies talking about that perspective, and I think that’s important because all of those components are what built Motown.”

The two-day symposium is not just a bunch of super-fans celebrating some of the world’s most beloved artists. It’s also a critical assessment of the label’s influence on the advancement of equality in the entertainment industry and Motown’s role as the soundtrack for a time of great social change.

“It’s an absolutely central part of American history,” said University of Wisconsin professor and author Craig Werner, today’s keynote speaker. “Without Motown, you cannot tell a story of the changes in America from the late 1950s, really, to the present.”

“Motown changed the ways in which white people with no particular commitment to civil rights … understood African-American experience," he said. "It was opening a door that’s been, in one way or another … opening ever since.”

“I think that there’s a very, very strong argument to be made that without Motown you can’t have Barack Obama,” Werner added.