Fred Hampton
| Fred Hampton | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | August 30, 1948 Summit, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | December 4, 1969 (aged 21) Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Assassination |
| Resting place | Bethel Cemetery Haynesville, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Citizenship | American |
| Education | Proviso East High School |
| Occupation | Activist, revolutionary |
| Years active | 1965–1969 |
| Known for | Deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter Black Panther Party |
| Political party | Black Panther Party |
| Partner(s) | Deborah Johnson (also known as Akua Njeri) |
| Relatives | Fred Hampton Jr. (son) |
Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an American activist and revolutionary, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), and deputy chairman of the national BPP. Hampton was assassinated while sleeping at his apartment during a raid by a tactical unit of the Cook County, Illinois State's Attorney's Office, in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in December 1969. His death was ruled as a justifiable homicide by the inquest. A civil lawsuit filed in 1970 resulted in a settlement of $1.85 million in 1982.
Hampton was born on August 30, 1948, in present-day Summit, Illinois, and grew up in Maywood, both suburbs of Chicago. His parents had moved north from Louisiana, and both worked at the Argo Starch Company. As a youth, Hampton was gifted both in the classroom and on the athletic field, and strongly desired to play center field for the New York Yankees. He graduated from Proviso East High School with honors in 1966. Following his graduation, Hampton enrolled at Triton Junior College in nearby River Grove, Illinois, where he majored in pre-law. He planned to become more familiar with the legal system, to use it as a defense against police. He and fellow Black Panthers would follow police, watching out for police brutality, and used this knowledge of law as a defense.
He also became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and assumed leadership of the Youth Council of the organization's West Suburban Branch. In his capacity as an NAACP youth organizer, Hampton began to demonstrate his natural leadership abilities; from a community of 27,000, he was able to muster a youth group 500-members strong. He worked to get more and better recreational facilities established in the neighborhoods, and to improve educational resources for Maywood's impoverished black community. Through his involvement with the NAACP, Hampton hoped to achieve social change through nonviolent activism and community organizing.
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