| 1901 |
Makes southern lecture tour, February–March, visiting Wilmington and meeting with Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee. Publishes articles based on his trip in the Boston Evening Transcript and the Cleveland Leader. Writes to the Macmillan Company in April to protest its publication of The American Negro by William Hannibal Thomas, which Chesnutt describes as racially defamatory; the book is soon withdrawn from sale. Essay "Superstitions and Folk-Lore of the South" appears in Modern Culture in May. Daughters Ethel and Helen graduate from Smith, and Ethel begins teaching at Tuskegee. Chairs Committee on Colored Troops for the 35 th National Encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic in Cleveland, and gives speech at memorial service for President William McKinley in September. The Marrow of Tradition published by Houghton, Mifflin in late October. Sales are disappointing, and Chesnutt establishes new stenographic firm.
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| 1902 |
Applies to join Rowfant Club, an exclusive Cleveland bibliophile society, but is vetoed by some of its members on racial grounds. Ethel returns to Cleveland and marries Edward Williams, a librarian at Western Reserve University, and Helen begins teaching in the Cleveland public schools. (She will eventually teach Latin at Central High School, where Langston Hughes will be one of her students.)
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| 1903 |
Contributes "The Disfranchisement of the Negro" to The Negro Problem: A Series of Articles by Representative American Negroes of Today, a collection that also includes essays by W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. Corresponds with Du Bois. Novel "Evelyn's Husband," depicting love triangle among white upper-class Bostonians, is rejected by McClure, Phillips. Grandson Charles Waddell Chesnutt Williams born.
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| 1904 |
Family moves to new house at 1668 (later renumbered 9719) Lamont Avenue. Story "Baxter's Procrustes" published in June Atlantic Monthly. Novel The Colonel's Dream accepted by Walter Hines Page, now at Doubleday, Page, after being rejected by Houghton, Mifflin.
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| 1905 |
Accepts membership on Committee of Twelve, organized by Booker T. Washington for "the advancement of the interests of the Negro race." Delivers lecture "Race Prejudice: Its Causes and Its Cure" before the Boston Historical and Literary Association. Son Edwin graduates from Harvard College. The Colonel's Dream published by Doubleday, Page in September. Becomes member of the Cleveland Council of Sociology, a civic improvement group. Attends 70th birthday party for Mark Twain held at Delmonico's in New York City.
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| 1906 |
Delivers "The Age of Problems," speech advocating racial equality, to the Cleveland Council of Sociology.
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| 1908 |
Criticizes several Supreme Court decisions in speech "The Courts and the Negro." Addresses annual conference of the Niagara Movement, founded by Du Bois in 1905 to seek political and economic rights for blacks.
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| 1910 |
Addresses May meeting of the National Negro Committee, which reorganizes itself as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Chesnutt becomes a member of its General Committee. Hospitalized in June after suffering a minor stroke. Declines to endorse public statement by Du Bois attacking Booker T.Washington. Accepts election as member of the Rowfant Club.
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| 1912 |
Story "The Doll" published by Du Bois in The Crisis, April. Becomes member of Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. Tours Europe with Helen in summer, traveling through Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, and England, where they visit composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.
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| 1913 |
Persuades Cleveland mayor Newton Baker to oppose bill prohibiting interracial marriage in Ohio (bill is defeated). Awarded LL.D. degree by Wilberforce University. Daughter Dorothy graduates from Western Reserve University (she will work as a juvenile court probation officer before becoming a schoolteacher). Delivers speech during centenary celebration of the battle of Lake Erie in which he describes the role of black sailors and soldiers in the War of 1812.
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| 1914 |
Helps establish Playhouse Settlement (later called Karamu House), social settlement house in the Central Avenue district of Cleveland. Buys automobile and learns to drive.
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| 1915 |
Skids on hill and crashes car in February; accident kills a young female passenger and injures his wife. Edwin graduates from dental school at Northwestern and opens practice in Chicago. Supports woman suffrage in"Women's Rights," article published in August Crisis. Successfully protests plan by Ohio agricultural official toarrange screening of D. W. Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation for youth excursion group.
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| 1916 |
Attends conference on racial issues held at Amenia, New York, estate of Joel Spingarn.
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| 1917 |
Enlists Chamber of Commerce in successful attempt to have The Birth of a Nation banned in Cleveland. Becomes member of National Arts Club. Protests harsh treatment of black soldiers in southern training camps.
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| 1918 |
Forms business partnership with Helen C. Moore, a white stenographer who becomes office manager of Chesnutt & Moore.
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| 1920 |
Falls ill with appendicitis and peritonitis. Father dies.
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| 1921 |
Novel Paul Marchand, F.M.C. is rejected by Houghton, Mifflin and Alfred Knopf (published in 1999). The House Behind the Cedars is serialized in the Chicago Defender.
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| 1922 |
Signs protest against American occupation of Haiti.
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| 1923 |
Supports protest against attempt by Harvard University to exclude black students from its freshman dormitories and dining halls.
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| 1924 |
Dorothy marries John Slade. Film adaptation of The House Behind the Cedars, produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux, is released (Micheaux will release another version, Veiled Aristocrats, in 1932). Conjure tale "The Marked Tree" appears in The Crisis, December 1924 - January 1925.
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| 1925 |
Grandson John Chesnutt Slade born. Builds summer house at Idlewild, resort near Baldwin, Michigan.
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| 1926 |
Corresponds with Carl Van Vechten, who had praised Chesnutt's work in his novel Nigger Heaven.
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| 1927 |
New edition of The Conjure Woman published by Houghton, Mifflin.
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| 1928 |
Appears before Senate committee to oppose the Shipstead Anti-Injunction bill because of the racially exclusive practices of labor unions. Awarded Spingarn Medal by the NAACP. Completes novel The Quarry (published in 1999).
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| 1930 |
Publishes "The Negro in Cleveland" in Clevelander, November.
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| 1931 |
"Post-Bellum — Pre-Harlem" published in The Colophon and reprinted in The Crisis.
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| 1932 |
Dies at home at 5:30 p.m. on November 15 of arteriosclerosis complicated by hypertension. Buried in Lake View Cemetery after funeral service at Emmanuel Episcopal Church.
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