Chapter 7, Columbia vs. Harlem Summary

Langston spent his first evening in New York at the YMCA. He spent his first week in the city exploring Harlem. When he showed up to claim his room key at Columbia, he was told that blacks were not allowed in the dormitories, but Hughes persisted, and was allowed to stay on campus. Langston's only friend at Columbia was Chun, a Chinese student. After a while, Langston stopped going to classes, and became more interested in Harlem than Columbia. Harlem was Hughes' real life classroom.

Langston's poems continued to appear in The Crisis, and that winter "Negro" was published. Realizing that Hughes was in New York City, the editors of The Crisis, including Du Bois, set up a meeting with the young man. Langston showed up to the meeting with his mother, who had been living in...