 At the time of their marriage, he was serving as Dean of Rankin Chapel and Professor of Systematic Theology at Howard University in Washington, D.C.In 1935, the couple embarked upon a six-month trip through southern Asia, visiting Burma, Ceylon and India, culminating in a "Pilgrimage of Friendship" to the International Student Conference in India.Her husband led the American delegation, lecturing at more than forty universities, while Thurman herself was asked to meet with journalists and students, to discuss race relations and evaluate the parallels between the situation with Indians and the British and the African Americans and white Americans.