Fred Hampton (1948-1969)

Name

Fred Hampton (1948-1969)

Date of Birth

30 August 1948

Date of Death

4 December 1969

State Assigned Gender

Male

Hometown or Region

Chicago, Illinois

Freedom Status

Free

Occupation

Civil Rights Activist

Biography

Fred Hampton was an African-American Civil rights activist in Chicago.

Fred Hampton was born August 30, 1948, in the City of Chicago. Hampton’s parents, Francis Allen Hampton and Iberia Hampton, moved from Louisiana during the Great Migration. In Hampton’s short life, he spent the majority of it as a vocal leader, graduating Proviso East High School with honors in 1966. Soon after graduating he would attend Triton Junior College in River Grove, Illinois, with a major in pre-law. This led to his involvement with the National Association of Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) by assuming leadership in the Youth Council in the organization's West Suburban Branch. As his role as a leader grew he was able to at one point, gather a group of 500 youth within his community. As the group known as the Black Panther Party grew around this time, Hampton became more and more attracted to it. Hampton would eventually join the Black Panther Party and relocate to downtown Chicago where they would begin their work in Chicago in November of 1968. Over the next year Hampton and his associates had many accomplishments, one being the development of the Rainbow Coalition in 1969, which would serve as an organization of inclusion of all races, genders, and ideologies. While these achievements are great, Hampton's murder by the Chicago Police Department would put them to an end on December 4, 1969.

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Student Researcher

Matthew Kennedy