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Summer,1922 
While performing on the London stage to earn money to continue in law
school, first meets Lawrence Brown, pianist, composer, scholar and
music historian.
February,
1923
Graduates
from Columbia Law School. Secures job as law clerk in New York firm,
but quits when white secretary refuses to take dictation from him.
Realizes his ambition is not for the law profession and decides to
pursue theatrical and musical career.
1924
Makes
his film debut, in silent movie, Body and Soul, for pioneering Black filmmaker
Oscar Micheaux
May 15, 1924
Despite uproar begun by racist journalists and critics and threatening
letters from the Ku Klux Klan, opens in New York, in Eugene O'Neill's All
God's Chillun Got Wings, a play about an interracial couple.
An instant success, with Robeson receiving rave reviews for his
performance, the play runs for 100 performances, through October
24. May-June,
1924
Stars in play The Emperor Jones, to divert attention from
controversy over All God's Chillun; plays through June.
November 2, 1924
Performs the first-ever concert in the United States devoted entirely
to "Negro" music, at Boston's Copley Plaza Hotel.
December 17, 1924
Gives recital at his Alma Mater, Rutgers College.
Spring, 1925
Engages Lawrence Brown as his accompanist/arranger, an association that will last through four decades. Brown helps Robeson expand his repertoire by introducing him to the folk music of many nations, as well as European classical music. It is this association with Brown that confirms Robeson's own instinctive feeling that the music of his own people "should become important concert material."
January,
1925
Reopens in The Emperor Jones on Broadway, for a limited run. April
4 and 11, 1925
Performs song recitals on WGBS radio.
April 19, 1925
In what becomes a revolution in the history of American music, gives concert consisting solely of songs composed and arranged by African Americans, accompanied by Lawrence Brown, at Greenwich Village Theatre, New York
City. A resounding success, this concert elevates Negro spirituals to a prominent and respected place in the music world, thus paving the way for Marian Anderson, Mahalia Jackson and other great gospel singers.
May
3,
1925
-
Gives
second concert of Negro Spirituals at Greenwich Village Theatre,
with Lawrence Brown at the piano.
-
Sings
at Actors Equity dinner at Hotel Astor, NYC.
September
10, 1925
Opens in The Emperor Jones, at the Ambassadors' Theatre, London, and is called back for 12 ovations on opening night. Receives wide acclaim from theater critics and thunderous applause from each audience throughout the run of the play.
October, 1925
Victor Records issues four recordings of Robeson singing Negro spirituals; they become instant best-sellers.
January-March, 1926
Goes on first US concert tour, accompanied by Lawrence Brown, singing African American songs to packed audiences across the country, receiving unanimous acclaim from reviewers everywhere. Is refused hotel accommodations
and restaurant service in Green Bay, WI, Boston and other cities.
January 5, 1926
Gives concert at Town Hall, New York City, as benefit for Lower East Side settlement house.
February
6, 1926
Gives concert of Negro Spirituals at Rotary Club, Chicago.
February 10, 1926
Gives concert, accompanied by Lawrence Brown, at Orchestra Hall, Chicago.
April 26,
1926
Gives concert for the Evanston Inter-Racial Council, at the Women's
Club Auditorium, Evanston, IL.
October,
1926
Plays lead role in a brief run of a play loosely based on the life of
former heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, in NYC.
December
9, 1926
Gives concert, accompanied by Lawrence Brown, at Orchestra Hall,
Chicago, attended by 1,488.
1927-1939
* While continuing his professional singing and acting career, is active in the British Labor Movement and is involved with the struggles of the workers of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, performing for them on numerous occasions, going down into the pits with the miners to see their working conditions and breaking bread with them and their families. His close relationship with the Welsh coal miners is reflected in
the 1939 film Proud Valley. Later, back in the U.S., continues to sing for the Welsh miners via trans-Atlantic telephone hook-up. Returning to England in 1949, states, in retrospect, that his
earlier time there had a profound influence on his political development: "I learned my militancy and my politics, from your Labor Movement here in Britain....That was how I realized that the fight of my Negro people in America and the fight of oppressed workers everywhere was the same struggle."
* At London University's School of Oriental Studies, learns Russian, Hebrew, Chinese and several African languages. There, and as he travels, learns the folk music of many peoples and incorporates those songs into his
repertoire in their original languages. Also studies the history and cultures of many countries and develops close friendships with many African and Asian students, including some who will later become leaders of their countries, such as Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, Jawaharlal Nehru. It is through these studies and these friends, as well as African seamen he meets on the docks in London, that he first "discovers" the truth about Africa and how Western imperialism keeps African nations in colonial bondage. Despite the demands of his professional career and his myriad volunteer activities for progressive causes, he will make the time, throughout his life, to continue these studies and to add more, including extensive study of Marxism-Leninism and Socialism.
* Makes several concert tours to other European countries and occasional brief visits to the US.
1927
* Having long since developed deep interest in Jewish culture, performs concert in New York's Town Hall to aid the Women's Committee of the American ORT, an organization devoted to teaching trades to young Jewish people in Eastern Europe seeking to emigrate to Palestine. By now, several Yiddish songs have become a regular part of his repertoire.
* Goes on second US concert tour, with Lawrence Brown, going as far as Kansas and Ohio.
Summer, 1927
At urging of friend, attorney William L. Patterson, joins picket line in Boston to protest imminent execution of Sacco and
Vanzetti.
October 29, 1927
Begins first European concert tour with standing-room-only crowd in Paris.
April, 1928
* Gives recital at Royal Albert Hall, London.
* Debuts song "Ol' Man River," in production of Show Boat, at Drury Lane Theatre, London, creating overnight sensation and forever after identifying him with the song.
Over the years, he will change the lyrics to suit his message to the
world against racism and injustice. During the year-long run of
the play, also performs several Sunday afternoon concerts at the same
theater, where he insists on low admission prices to enable British
workers to attend,
July 3,
1928
Gives concert, accompanied by Lawrence Brown at Drury Lane
Theatre, London.
July 9, 1928
Sings in a command performance, at a dinner given by the Prince of
Wales in honor of the King of Spain.
November
17, 1928
At the invitation of a group of Labour MPs, has luncheon at the House
of Commons, the first actor to be accorded such an honor.
September 29, 1928
Having by now become an internationally famous singer and actor, New Yorker magazine publishes "Profile on Robeson," in which he is called "the promise of his race," "the king of Harlem," and "the idol of his people."
March, 1929
Begins second concert tour of Central Europe and the British provinces, with Lawrence Brown.
April 10,
1929
Gives concert of "Negro Spirituals and Folksongs" at
Viennese Concert House, Vienna, Austria
Mid-April,
1929
Performs concerts in Prague, Czechoslovakia and Budapest, Hungary
June, 1929
Sings at Blackpool Opera House, London
October
29, 1929
Despite having performed at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall and having received invitations by top London society, encounters racial discrimination and is refused admission to London hotels (through 1930). Creates furor, and major hotels state they will "no longer refuse admission or service to Negroes."
November 5, 1929
Sings to a packed Carnegie Hall, accompanied by Lawrence Brown, kicking off his second US concert tour.
November 10, 1929
Gives second concert within a week at Carnegie Hall, where 1,000 have to be turned away.
December,
1929
Gives concert for a crowd of 1,500 at his alma mater, Rutgers
University, New Brunswick, NJ.
December
9, 1929
Performs in concert at Orchestra Hall, Chicago, with 1,488 in
attendance.
1930
Stars in Borderline, a British film about interracial relationships.
February 16, 1930
Begins third concert tour of British Isles and Central Europe, with Lawrence Brown, with performance
for 4,000 at Royal Albert Hall, London.
March, 1930
Performs The Emperor Jones, for one week, in Berlin.
May
19, 1930
Opens in Othello, with Peggy Ashcroft as Desdemona, at Savoy Theatre, London, winning
twenty curtain calls and world-wide acclaim for his interpretation of the role.
August 25-31, 1930
Gives 8 special performances at the Savoy Theatre, London. Programs include Negro spirituals, extracts from The Emperor Jones and classical concert songs.
October-December, 1930
Makes concert tour of British provinces. |
