1928 Summer. Gives up plans to move to New York City to design textiles when told by a decorator, "How could you have designed that? You're a colored girl."

1928. Hired by Charlotte Hawkins Brown to begin an art department at Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia, North Carolina, a prep school for African American youth.

1930. Wins honorable mention at Harmon Foundation Exhibition with charcoal of one of her Palmer students. (Negro Youth, 1929)

1931. Begins illustrating for Dr. Carter G. Woodson's Journal of Negro History. Woodson founded Negro History Week in February 1926.

1932. Completes Ascent of Ethiopia, 1932 (oil on canvas, 23 1/4 x 17 1/4 in, owned by the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is shown a year later in a Harmon Foundation art of the Harlem Renaissance exhibit.

1932. Produces plays and dramatic presentations with Gertrude Parthenia McBrown, writer for Carter Woodson's Journal of Negro History. March 3, Benefit Concert. April 16, The Silver Cord. May 5, "All State Night." May 14, "The Bronze Mask."

1934 Summer. Studies mask making in various cultures at Columbia University. Designs masks and costumes for Harlem dance group. Dates Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noël, Haitian graphic artist.

1935 January. Holds solo exhibition in Virginia at Hampton University Founder's Day.

1935. Publishes 36 illustrations in The Picture Poetry Book by Gertrude Parthenia McBrown. Exhibits work with the Harmon Foundation.

1937 September. Receives General Education Board fellowship to study in Paris at the Academie Julian for her Howard University sabbatical. Sailed on the SS Normandie from New York. Mary Beattie Brady, director of the Harmon Foundation, advised her to take her sketch book everywhere and she sketched on the voyage.

Loïs befriends painters Albert Alexander Smith (1896-1940), American expatriate and Émile Bernard (1868-1941) French painter and founder of French Symbolism, and colleague of Gauguin and Van Gogh, and dancer Josephine Baker (1906-1975). Her classmate Céline Tabary becomes a close friend and roommate.

1938. Completes Parisian Beggar Woman, with poet Langston Hughes (1902-1967) supplying the text.

Completes Chou-Fleur et Citrouille, Paris, 1938 (oil on canvas, 21 1/4 x 25 1/2, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York)

Completes Les Fétiches, 1938 (oil on linen, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC)

1938 May. Loïs has filled the walls of her studio at 23 rue Campagne Première with her Paris artwork. Albert Smith compliments her and asks her to stay in touch after she returns to America and makes suggestions on what to paint in Italy.

1938. Loïs completes 30 illustrations for Carter G. Woodson's book African Heroes and Heroines.

1938 Summer. Study and travel in Italy on extended General Education Board fellowship.

1938 September. Returns to teach at Howard University.

1939 January 21. Loïs receives a letter from Émile Bernard. "Charming Friend...You are a remarkably gifted artist and I hope that you will have the power to fully mature and achieve your own style without letting yourself be influenced by "fashion"....I have but one bit of advice to give you: Continue always in your own path, that is the only way to perfect one's work...."

1939 Winter. Paints Academy Award nominee Leigh Whipper (1876-1975), posing him as if he's in a Paris cafe. Dans un Café à Paris (Leigh Whipper) 1939 (oil on canvas, collection of E. Thomas Williams Jr. and Audlyn Higgins Williams). On May 22, 2009, The Wall Street Journal quoted, "Mr. Williams, a retired banker and real estate investor, strolled through his Manhattan apartment and stopped in front of the jewel of his collection, a smoky-hued portrait of a man in a fedora (Leigh Whipper) by Loïs Mailou Jones. The painting is appraised at $150,000.00, but he says he would happily donate it to the White House permanent collection." Loïs considered it one of her best works and it was later shown in a Paris exhibit. Whipper was a friend of Jacob Lawrence and told her in a letter that Jake was carried away with her comment about his work. Whipper was a graduate of Howard Law School but preferred acting. He wrote in her guest book: "To the #1 Negro artist (Loïs Jones) who will some day be America's #1 artist."

1940. Completes Indian Shops Gay Head, Massachusetts (oil on canvas, 21 x 25 3/4 in., Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Gift of the Artist.) Loïs has her friend Céline Tabary enter it in the Corcoran Gallery annual show in 1941 because African American artists were excluded. It wins the Robert Woods Bliss Award, and Loïs has the award mailed to her.

1940 July 4-September 2. Included in Art of the American Negro (1851-1940), Chicago exhibition at Tanner Galleries and National Museum of Art, Washington, D.C.

1940 Fall. Loïs paints her friend, opera singer Madame Lillian Evanti (1890-1967), in her costume as Rosina in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. Loïs said she had worked on it for three weeks with a palette knife and one day while Lillian posed, the opera came on over the radio and Lillian began to sing, her eyes sparkling. Life Portrait of Madame Lillian Evanti as Rosina in "The Barber of Seville", 1940 (oil on canvas, 42 x 32 in, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Max Robinson).

1941. Wins prize in Corcoran Gallery show for Indian Shops Gay Head, Massachusetts (oil on canvas, 21 x 25 3/4 in, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Gift of the Artist). Exhibits work at Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. and Seattle Museum of Art.

1942. Exhibits work at National Academy of Design, New York. (also in 1944, 1960, 1964 and 1969)

1942. Céline Tabary paints Loïs' mother Carolyn and dog Miquette and gives her the picture at Christmas. "xmas, 1942, to my dear mama Jones with much love—May the gate of joy, peace and happiness be open to you throughout the year - Yours Céline." Loïs' mother was famous for her hats.

1944. At the urging of Alain Locke to paint more on the black subject, she completes Mob Victim (Meditation), using a homeless man she met on the street as the subject of a lynching. He tells her he has witnessed a lynching in the south. She paints him several more times.

1944. Holds solo exhibition at the Barnett Aden Gallery in Washington, D.C., the first gallery in this segregated city to feature African American art. Also in 1946 and afterward.

1945. Loïs and Céline Tabary teach art classes in Loïs's Washington studio which becomes known as "Little Paris." The adult group includes Alma Thomas in 1946. They spend the summer painting in France.

1945. Receives A.B. degree in art education from Howard University, magna cum laude.

1946. Loïs is one of 12 women to win the Women of 1946 award from the National Council of Negro Women, presented by president Mary McLeod Bethune.

1947. Artist and sculptor Pietro Lazzari autographs one of his works for her. He had a studio in Washington during the 1940's and was a major influence.

1948. Solo exhibitions at the Whyte Gallery and Howard University Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

1940s and 1950s. Returns to France to paint in northern and southern France. Her landscapes win prizes. Receives John Hope Prize for landscape for Ville d'Houdain, Pas-de-Calais, France at Atlanta University exhibition. Receives award for Petite Ville en hautes-Pyrenées from Corcoran Gallery of Art.

1951. Loïs often returned to France and stayed at Céline's family home in Cabris while they both painted. In 1951, Loïs completed this bold landscape of a favorite scene which was acquired by Drs. Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. (Bill Cosby).

1951. Exhibits work at Corcoran Gallery of Art Biennial Exhibition, Washington, D.C. Also in 1953 and 1955.

1952. Loïs Mailou Jones: Peintures 1937-1951, published in Paris, a book of more than one hundred reproductions of her French paintings.

1953 August 8. Loïs marries Louis Vergniaud Pierre-Noël, award winning Haitian graphic artist in Cabris, France, Céline's home town. She calls him Pierre and he calls her Mailou. Initially, his aristocratic family worried about him marrying an American and her family worried about her marrying a Haitian.

1953. Receives oil painting award for Coin de la Place Maubert, Paris from Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1954. Teaches and paints in Haiti. Loïs and Pierre spend their first summer together in Haiti. She teaches at the Centre d'Art and paints the people and landscape at the request of President Paul E. Magloire. Completes Peasant Girl, Haiti 1954 (oil on canvas, 28 1/2 x 21 in. Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Fund).

1954 September 17. Haiti honors Loïs with the Diplôme et Décoration de l'Ordre National "Honneur et Mérite au Grade de Chevalier" for outstanding achievements in art. Her work is energized with bright colors and reflects the life of the people and their beliefs. Holds a solo exhibition there.

1955 January. Loïs' lifesize portraits of Haitian president Paul Magloire and his wife are featured at a reception and solo exhibition of her Haitian works at the Pan American Union Building in Washington, D.C. during their state visit as guests of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Vice-President Richard Nixon and his wife returned the visit in March.

1956-1962. Loïs and Pierre travel to Haiti and France during the summer.

1957. This oil on canvas (Nature Mort aux Géraniums, 1957) was painted in France and collected by Drs. Camille O. and William H. Cosby, Jr. (Bill Cosby).

1958. Receives award for design of publication Voici Haiti.

1960. Receives watercolor First Award for Voodoo Worshippers, Haiti from Atlanta University. Receives oil painting First Award from National Museum of Art, Washington, D.C. for Fishing Smacks, Menemsha, Massachusetts.

1961. Solo exhibition, Galerie International, New York, New York.

1962 July 12-August 20. Leads 27 students in first Howard University student tour of France. All students receive certificates. Lois Receives certificate from the Académie de la Grand Chaumière, Paris.

1964-1966 Summer. Paints in Haiti and France.

1965 Summer. Leads Howard University faculty-student tour of Europe.

1966 February. Solo exhibition at Galerie Soulanges, Paris. Exhibits work at Société des Artistes Français, Grand-Palais, France.

1967 Summer. Leads five week "Around the World" tour for Howard University alumni.

1967. Solo exhibition, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

1972 March-April. Solo exhibition at Howard University Gallery of Art 40 Years of Painting.

1972 Summer. Travels and paints in Africa and France. Completes Ode to Kinshasa, 1972 (mixed media on canvas, 48 x 36 in. Gift of the Artist. National Museum of Women and the Arts). President and Mrs. Obama are patrons of the National Museum of Women and the Arts. Completes Ubi Girl from Tai Region 1972 (acrylic on canvas, 43 3/4 x 60 in., Boston Museum of fine Arts).

1973-1974. Receives Howard University research grant for study "Women Artists of the Caribbean and Afro-American Artists." Solo exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., and Massachusetts College of Art.

1975. Receives Howard University's Fine Arts Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.

1976 Summer. Travels to Haiti to report on current art scene.

1976 October. Travels and paints in Senegal as Howard University's representative to International Colloquium on Culture and Development. Paints President Léopold Sédar Senghor.

1977. Commissioned by Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority to design Founders Commemorative Window, Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel, Howard University.

1977. Guest artist at FESTAC, Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture in Nigeria. Exhibits Moon Masque. 1977 May. Retires from Howard University as professor emerita.

1977 Summer. Loïs and Pierre sketch in Holland at the Rembrandt and Van Gogh museums.

1978. Receives Award of Appreciation from the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Washington, D.C.

1979. Holds solo exhibition, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

1980. One of ten artists given Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Visual Arts by President Jimmy Carter at the White House.

1981. Receives honorary doctorate in humane letters, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts.

1982 April 27. Husband Pierre passes in Washington, D.C.

1983 Summer. Paints and exhibits work in Martha's Vineyard.

1987 May. Receives honorary doctorate in humane letters, Howard University with First Lady, Barbara Bush, and Camille Cosby.

1988. Commissioned to design 366th World War II Infantry Regiment commemorative window, Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel, Howard University.

1989 May. Travels to France to visit Céline and completes 8 paintings in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist style, including large en plein air landscapes. It was her favorite style at the time she first went to France fifty years earlier and she said she had come "full circle."

1989 November 3. Loïs has a heart attack and heart bypass surgery ten days later.

1990 January - August 1996. Solo retrospective The World of Loïs Mailou Jones travels the country with 17 exhibits. She speaks at a reception at each location.

1991 October 26 and 27. Visiting professor at Harvard and Radcliffe, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

1991 November 2 - January 3, 1993. Danny Glover's Bomani Art Gallery in San Francisco held a solo exhibition called The Art of Loïs Mailou Jones featuring a representation of her contemporary work.

1992 October. The Ascent of Ethiopia is chosen as cover art for new Harvard University Press book To Wake the Nations: Race in the Making of American Literature.

1993 August. President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton meet Loïs at the Granary Gallery on Martha's Vineyard and select Breezy Day at Gay Head for the White House.

1994. The Life and Art of Loïs Mailou Jones, written by former student Dr. Tritobia Hayes Benjamin, is published.

1994 November 3. Corcoran Gallery birthday party for Loïs during The World of Loïs Mailou Jones exhibit and a public apology for previous prejudicial policies.

1995 September. Designs poster for Cry, the Beloved Country with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris. The original art is given to Nelson Mandela.

1997 April. Loïs arranges for Pierre's work to be donated to the National Postal Museum.

1997. Les Fétiches and The Ascent of Ethiopia are shown in an international exhibit Rhapsodies in Black: Art of the Harlem Renaissance.

2005 February. Loïs Mailou Jones Pierre-Noël Trust establishes scholarship in her name at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts and a scholarship fund at the Howard University Department of Fine Arts.

2006 April-September. Indian Shops, Gay Head, Massachusetts on exhibit with Painting Summer in New England at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts.

2006 September 15- October 15. Solo exhibit at School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts — Loïs Mailou Jones: The Early Works: Paintings and Patterns 1927-1937.

2007. Dr. Chris Chapman publishes Loïs Mailou Jones: A Life in Color. The book includes never before seen work and biographies and images of Loïs's contemporaries and African American historical figures which she drew in preparation for the book.

2008. Early Works exhibition at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, February; Delta Fine Arts Center, Winston Salem NC, July;-With presentation by Dr. Barry Gaither and Dr. Cheryl Finley, Featherstone Gallery, Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, September; -With presentation by Dr. Barry Gaither, Brenau University Galleries, Gainesville, Georgia, October.

2009. Dr. Chapman and Mr. Jones sign a contract with Pomegranate to publish six of Loïs's paintings to be sold during the exhibition at the Mint Museum: Floral Bouquet, Bouquet, Edgartown Beach, Ville d'Houdain, Sedalia and Paris Rooftops.

2009. Dr. Chapman and Mr. Jones sign a second contract with Pomegranate to publish three of Loïs's cretonnes to be sold for Trust resources: Design for Cretonne 10, 15 and 30.

2009 November-March 2012. Loïs Mailou Jones: a life in vibrant color solo retrospective exhibit begins at the Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina, and continues at the Polk Museum of Art in Lakeland, Florida and the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. See exhibitions page for complete schedule. The exhibition includes a published color catalogue, introduction written by Dr. Chapman.