Chapter 10, Busboy Poet Summary

When he returned to New York, Langston was introduced to several important figures of the era. These included Countee Cullen, Arna Botemps, James Weldon Johnson, and Carl Van Vechten. He also received twenty dollars from The Crisis for past work. He used this money go to the theater and to purchase a train ticket to Washington, where his mother was staying with middle-class relatives. He worked several menial jobs in Washington, but found that Jim Crow laws were still prevalent. Langston did not like his middle-class relatives, finding that they were snobby and indifferent to black suffering.

After a short-lived job at a laundry, Hughes was employed by Dr. Woodson, founder of the association for the Study of Negro Life and History. Hughes did not like the job, which was primarily a filing position, and quit to become a...