Fred Hampton (1948-1969)

April 16, 2025 
/ Contributed By: Dwayne Mack

Fred Hampton wearing a hat and speaking into a microphone at Dirksen Federal Building

Black Panther leader Fred Hampton

Photo by Paul Sequeira

Fred Hampton, deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, was born on August 30, 1948 and raised in the Chicago suburb of Maywood, Illinois. In high school he excelled in academics and athletics. After Hampton graduated from high school, he enrolled in a pre-law program at Triton Junior College in River Grove, Illinois. Hampton also became involved in the civil rights movement, joining his local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). His dynamic leadership and organizational skills in the branch enabled him to rise to the position of Youth Council President. Hampton mobilized a racially integrated group of five hundred young people who successfully lobbied city officials to create better academic services and recreational facilities for African American children.

In 1968, Hampton joined the Black Panther Party (BPP), headquartered in Oakland, California. Using his NAACP experience, he soon headed the Chicago chapter. During his brief BPP tenure, Hampton formed a โ€œRainbow Coalitionโ€ which included Students for a Democratic Society, the Blackstone Rangers, a street gang and the National Young Lords, a Puerto Rican organization. Hampton was also successful in negotiating a gang truce on local television.

In an effort to neutralize the Chicago BPP, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Chicago Police Department placed the chapter under heavy surveillance and conducted several harassment campaigns. In 1969, several BPP members and police officers were either injured or killed in shootouts, and over one hundred local members of the BPP were arrested.

During an early morning police raid of the BPP headquarters at 2337 W. Monroe Street on December 4, 1969, twelve officers opened fire, killing the 21-year-old Hampton and Peoria, Illinois Panther leader Mark Clark. Police also seriously wounded four other Panther members. Many in the Chicago African American community were outraged over the raid and what they saw as the unnecessary deaths of Hampton and Clark. Over 5,000 people attended Hamptonโ€™s funeral where Reverends Ralph Abernathy and Jesse Jackson of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference eulogized the slain activist. Years later, law enforcement officials admitted wrongdoing in the killing of Hampton and Clark. In 1990, and later in 2004, the Chicago City Council passed resolutions commemorating December 4 as Fred Hampton Day.

This article was originally published in April 2008 and was reviewed and updated in April 2025 for accuracy, relevance, and completeness.

About the Author

Author Profile

Dwayne Mack is Associate Professor of history and affiliated faculty with African/African American Studies at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky where he holds the Carter G. Woodson Chair in African American History. He was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, attended college in North Carolina, and received his Ph.D. in American history at Washington State University in Pullman, Washington, where he served as coordinator of the Talmadge Anderson Heritage House, the campus African American Cultural Center. He is the lead editor of Mentoring Faculty of Color: Essays on Professional Development and Advancement in Colleges and Universities (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2013). He is also the author of several peer reviewed articles and book chapters on the African American experience in the West and South. His work in progress includes a book manuscript, โ€œWe Have a Story to Tell: The African American Community in Spokane, Washington, 1945-1990.โ€

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Mack, D. (2025, April 16). Fred Hampton (1948-1969). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hampton-fred-1948-1969/

Source of the Author's Information:

Peniel E. Joseph, Waiting โ€™Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2006); Huey P. Newton, War against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America (New York: Harlem River Press, 1996); John Kifner, โ€œPolice in Chicago Slay 2 Panthers,โ€ New York Times, December 5, 1969; John Kifner, โ€œPanthers Say an Autopsy Shows Party Official was Murdered,โ€ New York Times, December 7, 1969.

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