Fred Hampton
Fred Hampton grew up in Maywood and graduated with honors from Proviso East High School. As a teenager, he was active with the NCAAP and organized its West Suburban Youth Council, where he advocated for better recreational facilities and educational resources. He chaired the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and brokered a nonaggression pact among Chicago's most powerful street gangs in an effort to reduce violence and build solidarity. He was instrumental in the organization's Free Breakfast Program.
In May 1969, Hampton held a press conference announcing the formation of the original Rainbow Coalition in Chicago, an alliance of Black, Latinx and poor white residents focused on challenging the racial and economic status quo in the city.
Viewing Hampton as a destabilizing militant leader, the FBI opened a file on him and placed him on its "Agitator Index." Using information gained from an informant, the Chicago police raided his apartment and killed Hampton and colleague Mark Clark in a fuselage of between 90 and 99 shots.
Available Film on Fred Hampton
The Murder of Fred Hampton by Call Number: DVD HV6515 .M97 2007 AVISBN: 1565805224Publication Date: 1971Mike Gray started out to make a film about the Black Panther Party, but on Dec. 4, 1969, the Chicago police raided a Panther apartment and his film became a documentary about the murder of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. The film footage of the raid directly contradicted the State Attorney's version of the raid and so filmmakers and Panthers came together to prove that Hampton had been the designated target of the violent, punitive raid. The film's inquiry pursues official spokesmen and traps them in their attempts at covering up an orchestrated assassination.
Rainbow Coalition
Black Panther Fred Hampton Created a "Rainbow Coalition" to Support Poor Americans
This article provides information about Fred Hampton and the Rainbow Coalition.
Fred Hampton Reference Sources
- Fred Hampton Research StarterFred Hampton Research Starter Page including background, life's work, impact, and bibliography
- Contemporary Black BiographyFred Hampton's entry in Volume 18 of The Contemporary Black Biography.
- Research Starter on the Deaths of Fred Hampton and Mark ClarkResearch Starter page on the Deaths of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Includes impact, subsequent events, and additional information.
Fred Hampton in the News
- Chicago Divided over Hampton's LegacyNew York Times article by Monica Davey from May of 2006.
- Was Fred Hampton executed?Nation article from 1976 discusses the infamous police raid that lead to Hampton's death.
- Fred Hampton: 50 Years LaterNew York Amsterdam News discusses Hampton's lasting influence.
Resources about Fred Hampton
This page contains resources on Fred Hampton's life and work that are available from the Rebecca Crown Library and online.
Fred Hampton: "You Can Jail A Revolutionary, But You Can't Jail A Revolution"
From the 1971 documentary film 'The Murder of Fred Hampton', featuring an excerpt from a speech by Brother Fred Hampton, in which he emphasizes his political views and priorities. Brother Hampton was deputy chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party and was killed in his apartment on December 4th 1969 by the KKK aka FBI and the Chicago Police Department.
Fred Hampton - Black Revolutionary - You Can't Kill the Revolution
Collection of clips featuring Fred Hampton, Chairman of the Chicago Black Panther Party, gunned down by police while he was sleeping in his bed on December 4, 1969.
Courtroom Speech on Capitalism and Solidarity
Black Panther leader Fred Hampton, assassinated in 1969 by Chicago police, explains how the ruling class uses racism to exploit working people.
Black Panthers and Young Patriots
Books about Fred Hampton
From the Bullet to the Ballot by ISBN: 9780807838167Publication Date: 2013-02-28In this comprehensive history of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (ILBPP), Chicago native Jakobi Williams demonstrates that the city's Black Power movement was both a response to and an extension of the city's civil rights movement. Williams focuses on the life and violent death of Fred Hampton, a charismatic leader who served as president of the NAACP Youth Council and continued to pursue a civil rights agenda when he became chairman of the revolutionary Chicago-based Black Panther Party. Framing the story of Hampton and the ILBPP as a social and political history and using, for the first time, sealed secret police files in Chicago and interviews conducted with often reticent former members of the ILBPP, Williams explores how Hampton helped develop racial coalitions between the ILBPP and other local activists and organizations. Williams also recounts the history of the original Rainbow Coalition, created in response to Richard J. Daley's Democratic machine, to show how the Panthers worked to create an antiracist, anticlass coalition to fight urban renewal, political corruption, and police brutality.
