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 . In November 1924 , Hughes returned to the U. S. to live with his mother in Washington , D.C. Hughes worked at various odd jobs before gaining a white-collar job in 1925 as a personal assistant to the historian Carter G. Woodson at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History .