After a relaxing and invigorating time in France, James Baldwin returned to the states in the summer of '57. The year that basic civil rights were being debated in Congress. He was nervous, but managed. He interviewed people in Charlotte and Montgomery, resulting in two essays-- "The Hard Kind of Courage", and "Nobody Knows my Name". While writing about the movemment, Baldwin became aligned with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). During this time, he travelled the South giving lectures on racial inequality. Baldwin's politics were considered in between Malcom X's "millitancy" and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "peacefullness".