Songs in the Key of Life at 50: Symposium
Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Location : The People’s Forum - 320 West 37th Street, New York, NY, 10018
Symposium Registration
Concert Information and Tickets
To mark the 50th anniversary of Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life, the Columbia Center for the Study of Social Difference is organizing a full-day symposium and accompanying concert.
The symposium and accompanying concert will reflect on the groundbreaking album’s insights into life in the wake of civil rights and decolonial movements across the African world, and on the legacies of Wonder’s hopeful vision of a future grounded in love and shared humanity. They will kick off a yearlong series of public events and study sessions that respond to the U.S. semi quincentennial and offer a critical counternarrative to officially sanctioned accounts of the country’s past by focusing on works with alternative anniversaries which illuminate the conditions and experiences of minoritized communities.
The symposium features four panels, each focusing on one side of Wonder’s four-sided album. Panels will bring together scholars and musicians for conversations that incorporate close listening and improvisational demonstrations. Themes broached in discussions will range from urban Black and brown impoverishment and jazz as a form of Black resistance to Black familial love and Global South solidarities. Panelists include Marcus J. Moore, LaFrae Sci, Samora Pinderhughes, Naomi Extra, Naima Cochrane, Immanuel Wilkins, Toshi Reagon, and Shana L. Redmond. The symposium will end with a jam session building off of the album’s bonus tracks, led by Dr. Guthrie Ramsey’s Musiqology, and a reception. The symposium is held in partnership with The People’s Forum and co-sponsored
The symposium features four panels that each hhome in on one side of Wonder’s four-sided album. Panels will involve a mix of scholars and musicians or composers, and include conversational elements, close listening, and demonstrations. Themes broached in discussions will range from urban Black and brown impoverishment and jazz as a form of Black resistance to Black familial love and joy and Global South solidarities. Confirmed panelists include Marcus J. Moore, LaFrae Sci, Samora Pinderhughes, Naomi Extra, Naima Cochrane, Immanuel Wilkins, Toshi Reagon, and Shana L. Redmond. The symposium will end with a jam session building off of the album’s bonus tracks, led by Dr. Guthrie Ramsey’s Musiqology, and a reception.
The symposium is held in partnership with The People’s Forum and co-sponsored by the Institute for Research in African American Studies/African American and African Diaspora Studies Department (IRAAS/AAADS), and the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University.
