Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walks between seven-year-old Eva Gracelemon, left, and 10-year-old Aritha Willis as he escorts black school children to formerly all-white schools in Grenada, Miss., Tuesday morning, Sept. 20, 1966. (Credit: AP) Martin Luther King Jr. has come to be revered as a hero who led a nonviolent struggle to reform and redeem the United States.