Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Hughes went to Columbia University in New York City for a while, but left after a year because of the racially intolerant environment (source).
In 2005, Hughes won the Quill Award for Poetry, which, weirdly, is named for the Harry Potter series. It's an award to promote young peoples' literacy. In 2006, it went to Maya Angelou, another influential African-American writer (source).