Martin Luther King, JrThere are many people who had something to do with winning civil rights for African Americans. Black people were treated poorly throughout much of the 1900s. Many people tried to fight for civil rights but only a few succeeded. Martin Luther King was an important and very important hero because he fought for civil rights to be treated equally. Martin Luther King came from a middle-class family. His father was a Baptist preacher and his grandfather was also a preacher. Both of his parents were college educated and wanted him to receive the same education they had. King's grandmother was the only person who thought King could change things. When King was 12, his grandmother died of a fatal heart attack. King then attended a parade without his parents' permission and attempted suicide. In 1944, when King was just 15 years old, he entered Morehouse College in Atlanta as part of a special program for students like King. King was shocked when he saw that they were not segregated, which earned him more hatred for racial segregation. (“Martin Luther King” Britannica school. 1-4) (“Martin Luther King, Jr.” Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th edition (2013): 1. Middle Search Plus. Web. May 21, 2014 paragraph 1) King led the major bus boycott in 1959. (Martin Luther King, Jr “Britannica School Then if you were an African American you had to give up your seat for the whites to sit. On December 1, 1955 a black woman named Rosa Parks stood up for herself and did not gave up her seat to a white man. She was arrested for not following the city's segregation law. (Martin Luther King, Jr “Britannica School 6-7) The activist formed a group to boycott the buses and they chose. King like them. leaders. People... center of paper... you but I want you to know tonight that we, as people, will reach the promised land." (Martin Luther King, Jr" British School. 18-21) The next day, while King was on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel, where he was staying, King was killed by a sniper's bullet. King's killing started riots and unrest in more than 100 cities across the country. On March 10, 1969, the accused killer, a white man named James Earl Ray, pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. In the years following King's death, he remained the best-known African-American leader of his era. His stature as a major historical figure was confirmed by a campaign to establish a national holiday in his honor in the United States and by the King's memorial building or monument on the Mall in Washington, D.C. (Martin Luther King, Jr. “Britannica School 21-22).