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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
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Gives second concert of Negro
Spirituals at Greenwich Village Theatre, with Lawrence Brown at the
piano.
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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.
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