The Assassination of Fred Hampton

by Nicole Ramirez

In October 1966,  Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale established The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland, California, which became known as The Black Panther Party (BPP).[1] Newton authored the “Ten Point Program,” which laid out the party’s demands for black Americans, including improved education, reliable jobs, safe and adequate housing, and being excused from serving in the military.[2] By 1969, the BPP had about five thousand members and forty chapters across the United States.[3] Some of its most well-known members include Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Cleaver, James Forman, Stokely Carmichael, David Hilliard, H. Rap Brown, and Angela Davis.[4]

Many Americans considered the Black Panthers radical because they supported the idea of an economy based on community, as opposed to private ownership.[5] They helped poor black communities through free “survival programs,” offering food, clothing, bussing, and even house repair.[6] The Black Panthers also advocated self-defense and the open-carry of firearms.[7] To help protect black communities from violence by the police, the Black Panthers set up groups called “police patrols” who would guard city streets.[8]

In 1968, Fred Hampton and Bobby Rush founded the BPP’s local branch, the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (ILBPP). Hampton served as deputy chairman, and Rush became the deputy minister of defense.[9] The ILBPP set up and oversaw free “survival programs” for anyone who needed them in Chicago and throughout Illinois.[10] To expand the ILBPP’s reach and gain support from allies, Fred Hampton created a union of activist groups in Chicago across the lines of race, ethnicity, and social status called the Rainbow Coalition, comprising a group of white people called Rising Up Angry, a group of white people who migrated from the South called the Young Patriots, and a group of Puerto Rican Americans called the Young Lords. With the common goal of providing free social programs for poor communities, the Rainbow Coalition served as many as two thousand people a day.[11]