Fred Hampton

Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an African American revolutionary and political activist who served as deputy chairman of the Black Panther Party, a Marxist–Leninist and black power organization from 1966 until his assassination in 1969. He was also chair of the Illinois chapter and founded the anti-racist, anti-classist Rainbow Coalition, a prominent multicultural political organization that combined Black Panthers, Young Patriots, and the Young Lords, which were all leftist political organizations that included African Americans, White Southerners, and Puerto Ricans. Hampton also formed an alliance among major Chicago street gangs to help them end infighting and work for social change. Hampton began his activism in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), serving as the Youth Council President of the West Suburban branch in the Chicago area. In 1967, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified Hampton as a radical threat. It tried to subvert his activities in Chicago, sowing disinformation among black progressive groups and placing a counterintelligence operative in the local Panthers organization. In December 1969, Hampton was drugged, then shot and killed in his bed during a predawn raid at his Chicago apartment by a tactical unit of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, who received aid from the Chicago Police Department and the FBI leading up to the attack. Law enforcement sprayed more than 100 gunshots throughout the apartment; the occupants fired once. During the raid, Panther Mark Clark was also killed and several others were seriously wounded. In January 1970, the Cook County Coroner held an inquest; the coroner's jury concluded that Hampton's and Clark's deaths were justifiable homicides. A civil lawsuit for wrongful death was later filed on behalf of the survivors and the relatives of Hampton and Clark. It was resolved in 1982...