1906
Begins spending summers on Martha's Vineyard where her grandmother, Phoebe Moseley Adams Ballou, was a housekeeper and nanny, and her mother operated a beauty parlor. She remembers being encouraged to draw there at age 3. Her neighbor and life-long friend was Dorothy West, Harlem Renaissance writer.

1915
May 26:  Loïs' father becomes one of the first African Americans to graduate from Suffolk Law School after years of night classes. She credited much of her drive to succeed to her father. He saw Loïs' early success before he died in 1934.

1919
Studies the High School of Practical Arts in Boston and wins annual scholarships to take classes at the Museum of Fine Arts after school and on Saturdays. She worked with costume designer Grace Ripley to make costumes and masks for the theater.

1923
Has first solo exhibition in Vineyard Haven, Martha's Vineyard. Her mentors on the island include sculptor Meta Warrick Fuller (1877-1968) and composer Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949).

Graduates from High School of Practical Arts and continues her studies at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.  While there, she receives the Susan Minot Lane Scholarship in Design each year from 1923-1927.

1926
Takes evening classes at the Boston Normal Art School (now the Massachusetts College of Art).

March 15:  Wins $50 prize for best original design for a dress of rayon, a new artificial silk fabric, in a contest sponsored by the upscale Boston department store, Shepards and the Ryan Institute of America. Value today, approximately $600.

1927
Receives the Nathaniel Thayer prize for excellence in design and graduates with honors from the SMFA. Receives certificate from the Boston Normal Art School.

Studies with Ludwig Frank at the Designers Art School of Boston on scholarship until 1928. Begins career as a freelance textile designer for F.A. Foster Company, Boston and Schumacher Company, New York.