1959 

• Wilson attends Central Catholic High School but  leaves the school because of racist abuse. He would later attend Connelly Vocational High School but leave that school also, for lack of a challenging Curriculum.

• Wilson attends Gladstone High School but drops out of Gladstone at 10th grade when a teacher accuses him of plagiarizing a 20-page paper on Napoleon Bonaparte.  Wilson proceeds to educate himself at the Carnegie Public Library and through life experiences.

1962 

• Wilson  enlists in the U.S. Army. He signs up for three years but  leaves after one year.

• He works at a variety of  jobs before he began writing for a living. He was a dishwasher, a cook, a porter, short-order cook and a gardener.

1965  

• Wilson discovers the blues -- Bessie Smith's "Nobody Can Bake a Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine."
• Wilson's  biological father dies. He changes his name from August Kittel to August Wilson.
• He buys his first typewriter for $20.00, and writes poetry.
• He moves into a rooming house on Bedford Avenue.

1968  

• Wilson along with his friend Rob Penny, co-founds the theater Black Horizon.

• Wilson's stepfather, David Bedford, dies.

• Wilson marries Brenda Burton.

1970 - 1979
1976

• Kuntu Repertory Theater runs "The Homecoming", directed by Vernell Lillie.
• Wilson sees "Sizwe Bansi Is Dead" at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. 
  This  play by Athol Fugard about a Black South African man, struggling with identity under apartheid, was the first professional play he saw. It had a tremendous effect on Wilson.

• Wilson writes "Black Bart and the Sacred Hills." His  first musical satire.

• Wilson moves to St. Paul, Minneapolis,  where he finds a job writing for the Science Museum.

1980 -1989
1980

• He receives a fellowship to attend the  Minneapolis Playwrights Center.

1981

• Wilson marries a second time. His wife is Judy Oliver, a social worker.

• "Jitney" is staged by the Allegheny Repertory Theatre in Pittsburgh.  It is directed by Bob Johnson.  The cast includes Ron Pitts,  Curtis Porter, Monte Russell, Milt Thompson, and Sala Udin.
• "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is staged at the  National Playwrights Conference at O'Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. 
• August Wilson meets Lloyd Richards who will direct his  first six plays on Broadway

1983

• Wilson's mother, Daisy Wilson, dies.

1984

• "Ma Rainey Black Bottom" premieres at Yale Repertory Theatre.
• "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom"  moves to Broadway that same year.
• Wilson Wins  New York Drama Critics Circle Award for best play.

Publications:

• Chicago Tribune, October 15, 1984
• Christian Science Monitor, October 16, 1984, pp.29-30
• Los Angeles Times, November 24, 1984
• New York Times, April 11, 1984; April 13, 1984; October 12, 1984
• Theater, fall-winter, 1984, pp.50-55; summer-fall
• Times (London), November 6, 1984    

• "Fences" premieres at Yale Repertory Theater.
• Nominated for the  Antoinette Perry Award (Tony),  from League of New York Theatres and Producers.
• Wins the  Whiting Writers' Award from the Whiting Foundation.

Publications:

• Ebony, January, 1985
• New York Times, May 5, 1985, p.80
• Saturday Review, January-February, 1985, pp.83, 90

• "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" premieres at Yale Repertory Theater.
• Reunion of Centre Avenue Poets Theater Workshop featuring  Maisha Baton, Rob Penny and others.
• Los Angeles Times, November 7, 1986
• Ma Rainey's Black Bottom; wins Outstanding Play Award from American Theatre Critics.
• Wins Drama Desk's,  Outstanding New Play Award.
• Wins New York Drama Critics Circle, Best Play Award.
• Wins Pulitzer Prize for drama.
• Wins Antoinette Perry Award (Tony), for best play.
• Wins Best Broadway play,  from the Outer Critics Circle. 

Publications:

• Chicago Tribune, February 9, 1986, pp.12-13
• New York Times, May 6, 1986; May 14, 1986; May 19, 1986, p. Cli
• Theater, Summer-Fall, 1986, pp.64
• Washington Post, May 20, 1986

• "Fences" opens on Broadway.
• Wilson wins New York Drama Critics Circle  Award for "Fences".
• Wilson's first Pulitzer Prize drama grosses $11 million at the box office. It is the first non-musical production to gross that much on Broadway.
• Kuntu Theater in Pittsburgh stages a premiere of "Ma Rainey."
•  Wilson wins the Outer Critics Circle's  John Gassner Award;  best American Playwright for "Fences."
• Wilson is the Artist of the Year,  for the Chicago Tribune.
• He wins the Literary Lion Award from the New York Public Library.

Publications:

• Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1987; December 17, 1987; December 27, 1987, pp.4-S
• Christian Science Monitor, March 27, 1987, pp.1, 8
• Ebony, November, 1987, pp.68, 70, 72, 74.
• Essence, August, 1987, pp.51, 111, 113
• Los Angeles Times, April 17, 1987; June 7, 1987; June 8, 1987; June 9, 1987
• Newsweek, April 6, 1987
• New York, April 6, 1987, pp.92-94
• New Yorker, April 6, 1987, p.81
• New York Newsday, April 20, 1987, p.47.
• New York Times, March 27, 1987, p. C3; April 5, 1987, II, pp.1, 39; April 9, 1987; April 17, 1987; May 7, 1987; June 10, 1987, pp.36, 40, 49, 70. December 10, 1987; December 11, 1987
• Time, April 6, 1987, p.81; April 27, 1987
• Times (London), April 18, 1987; April 24, 1987
• Washington Post, April 15, 1987; June 9, 1987; October 4, 1987; October 9, 1987

1988

• "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" opens on Broadway.
• "Joe Turner  wins New York Drama Critic Circle Award.
• Wilson lectures on "Blacks Blues and Cultural Imperialism." at the Carnegie Institute's Man and Ideas series.
• He talks of the racist reality growing up Black in Pittsburgh.
• Wilson appears on Bill Moyers' "World of Ideas" (PBS).
• He Receives  the Best Play Award for  "Joe Turner's Come and Gone", from the New York Drama Critics Circle.
• "Joe Turner's Come and Gone", Drama Desk Outstanding New Play Award.
• He wins the Antoinette Perry Award (Tony Award) for Best Play.
• He wins the American Theatre Critics Outstanding Play Award.
• Wilson wins the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1988.

Publications:

• Christian Science Monitor, March 30, 1988, p.21
• Los Angeles Times, February 6, 1988    
• Massachusetts Review, spring, 1988, pp. 87-97
• Newsweek, April 11, 1988, p.82
• New Yorker, April 11, 1988, p.107
• New York Post, March 28, 1988   
• New York Post, March 27, 1988, pp.1, 34; March 28, 1988, p. CiS
• Theater, summer-fall, 1988, pp.69-71
• Time, April 11, 1988, pp.77-78

1989 

• Pittsburgh Public Theater stages its first Wilson play "Fences". Also,  "Joe Turner's Come and Gone" that same year.
• "The Piano Lesson" premieres at Yale Repertory Theater.
• August Wilson is named 1990 Pittsburgher of the Year, by the Pittsburgh Magazine.

Publications:

• Esquire, April, 1989, pp. 116, 118, 120, 122-27
• New York Times, January 30, 1989, p.69
• Time, January 30, 1989, p.69