“I am…a revolutionary.”
Fred Hampton was born on August 30, 1948 in Summit, Illinois, and grew up in the Chicago suburb of Maywood. Early on, his leadership capabilities were apparent. After graduating high school in 1966 with honors, he enrolled at Triton Junior College, majoring in pre-law. Through an academic grounding in law, he hoped to serve his people and his community.
He led a 500-strong youth branch of the NAACP, hoping to bring social change nonviolently and from below by working with the masses through community organizing. Hampton joined the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968 and moved to downtown Chicago to network with the people from his new base.
Over the next year, Hampton worked to change the social base of the city of Chicago. Most notably, he formed a non-aggression pact between several rival street gangs, and also worked towards founding a class-conscious, intra-ethnic network of multi-racial organizations that included the Young Lords Party (which organized Latino youth), the Young Patriots organization (which organized white youth from Appalachia), the Red Guard Party (Asian Americans), the Brown Berets (Chicanos from the Western United States) and SDS (mainly white youth from college campuses).
This intra-ethnic organizing and peace treaty negotiation between street gangs was seen by the FBI as a dangerous threat to the “internal stability of the United States.” Hampton was legally hounded and eventually assassinated on the morning of December 4th, 1969, by the Chicago Police Department. His death occurred while sleeping heavily due to being effectively sedated by a large dose of a tranquilizer administered by an FBI informant, William O’Neal. He was 21 years old.
Hampton was on the verge of merging a street gang with thousands of members, the Blackstone Rangers, with the Black Panther Party, which would have doubled the size of the national party. He was also on the verge of becoming Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party Central Committee. Had he lived, he would have spread revolutionary theory and practice to untold millions of working class black people.
Chairman Fred Hampton worked for our freedom in his 21 years of life and left us invaluable lessons to be carried down through the generations. His legacy is to be upheld, and his revolutionary practice and theory is to be studied by all black people who long to be free.
Sources:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/chi-chicagodays-pantherraid-story-story.html
http://www.blackpast.org/aah/hampton-fred-1948-1969
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/12/4/watch_the_assassination_of_fred_hampton
http://peopleslawoffice.com/issues-and-cases/panthers/
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I was just a Child at the Time , But I was an angry child In 68 I was 10yrs Old a militant of Course and Family member of a Mostly Military Family I was coming home with Groceries for Mom MLK.Jr. was Murdered. I was militant child after that and Damm if I didn’t try the Military lol. I just wanted to get away from the BS going On.
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Wow if we can do then, we can do it now, but the FBI is ok with us killing each other in the streets I’m not more power to the people Black Power!!!!!
Thats a got dam shame this man never reached his full potential but thats how whites are ifmyour a treat the try tomcut youndown before your a serious problem dont give you a chance why scared but it will be another great black leader you want stop
He was a brilliant unifier and strategist.
I was in the BBP, in Chicago during those times. I do not recall Chairman Fred, living downtown. The address of the office was, 2350 W. Madison. The apartment building that Fred Hampton AND Mark Clark, was killed in was in,
the 2300 block on Monroe. I vividly remember, the Young Lords, and SDS, meeting at the office and attending our political orientation meetings. Yes, O’Neal, was an FBI informant and he was also the body guard for Fred, and the chief of security. O’Neal was with him EVERYDAY and knew his whereabouts at all times. As the years passed, O’Neal, jumped out a moving car on the expressway and killed himself.
Fred, was an intelligent, FEARLESS, freedom fighter. He was also, a ROUSING speaker. that could not be bought off. He was a lover of all revoultionary freedom fighters and a lover of freedom. I noticed that you included many of his accomplishments, but you omitted, The Breakfast for Children Program, and the health center that he established, on 16th St. Our Breakfast for Children Program, was very successful, also.