until 1926 hughes did many different types of work. in 1923 he went as a crewman on the ship "s.s.malone" and went to west africa and europe. he left the ship and stayed for a short time in paris where he joined several other african-americans who were living there. in november 1924, hughes returned to the u.s. to live with his mother in washington, d.c.. in 1925 he got a job as an assistant to carter g. woodson who worked with the "association for the study of african american life and history". hughes did not enjoy his work because he did not have enough time to write, so he left and got a job as a "busboy", wiping tables and washing dishes at a hotel. hughes is sometimes called "the busboy poet". meanwhile, some of his poems were published in magazines and were being collected together for his first book of poetry. while he was working at the hotel he met the poet vachel lindsay, who helped to make hughes known as a new african-american poet.