His father paid his tuition to Columbia University on the grounds he studied engineering. During these years, he held odd jobs as an assistant cook, launderer, and a busboy, and traveled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. When funds for continuing college dried up, Hughes dropped out with a B+ average and moved to Harlem at the height of its golden era; all the while he continued writing poetry. .
In 1923, Hughes traveled abroad on a freighter to the Senegal, Nigeria, the Cameroons, Belgium Congo, Angola, and Guinea, and later to Italy, France, Russia and Spain. One of his favorite pastimes whether abroad or in Washington, D.C. or Harlem, New York was sitting in the clubs listening to blues, jazz and writing poetry. Through these experiences, a new rhythm emerged in his writing, and a series of poems such as The Weary Blues were penned. He returned to Harlem, in 1924, during the period known as the Harlem Renaissance. At this time, Hughes's work was frequently published and his writing flourished. It was 1925 when Hughes moved to Washington, D.C., still spending more time in blues and jazz clubs. He said, "I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street.[these songs] had the pulse beat of the people who keep on going." (Life of Langston Hughes: I, Too, Sing America) At this same time, Hughes accepted a job with Dr. Carter G. Woodson, editor of the Journal of Negro Life and History and founder of Black History Week in 1926. He returned to his beloved Harlem later that year. Langston Hughes returned to school in 1926, this time to the historically black Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He was supported by a patron of the arts, which was a wealthy white woman in her seventies named Charlotte Osgood Mason. Mason directed Hughes's literary career, convincing him to write the novel Not Without Laughter; the two had a dispute in 1930, however, and the relationship came to an end.
