1891: Born October 7 in New Orleans, LA into a Creole home

1924: Married: February 14th to Edith Granzo

1928: Wins the Harmon Foundation gold medal for The Octoroon Girl

1929: Wins a Guggenheim Fellowship for a year of study in Paris

1933: hired by easel division of the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP)

1935: Completed murals for music room at Nichols School, Evanston, IL

1948: Death of Edith Motley on December 17

1949: Due to financial problems, accepted a job painting shower curtains for Styletone, maker of hand-painted shower curtains

1957: Worked for Artistic, Inc. painting shower curtains

1981: Died January 16 in Chicago, IL

References:

• Archibald J. Motley Jr., by Amy M. Mooney, Pomegranate Communications, Inc., San Francisco, CA (2004)
  
• Archibald J. Motley, Jr.: American artist of the Afro-American people, 1891-1928, by Elaine D. Woodall, M.S. Thesis, Pennsylvania State University (1977)
  
• The Art of Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Jontyle Theresa Robinson and Wendy Greenhouse, Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, IL (1991)
  
• The Crisis of Crossing: Race and Identity in the Work of Archibald J. Motley, Jr., by Amy M. Mooney, Ph.D. Dissertation, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (2001)
  
• "An Early Portrait by Archibald J. Motley, Jr.," by Wendy Greenhouse - in The American Art Journal, Volume XXIX, Numbers 1 and 2 (no date)
  
• "Looking Backward - Archibald J. Motley" by Elaine D. Woodall in Chicago History, Volume VII, Number 1, Chicago Historical Society, Chicago, IL (Spring 1979)