Martin Luther King Jr. was known for his moral courage, but as a child, he also had a scrappy side. “Little Mike,” or M.L., as he was called, had a phrase he used whenever a fight seemed unavoidable. “Let’s go to the grass,” he’d say—a challenge that signaled he was ready to defend himself. That detail, says Professor Lerone Martin, reveals a lesser‑known dimension of King’s early character.