Assassination of Fred Hampton

Date: December 4, 1969 • Location: Washington, United States

Fred Hampton, the leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, and Mark Clark were killed in a raid by Chicago police officers in what many scholars consider an illegal assassination.

Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. was an African American revolutionary and political activist who served as deputy chairman of the Black Panther Party, a Marxist–Leninist and black power organization from 1966 until his assassination in 1969. He was also chair of the Illinois chapter and founded the anti-racist, anti-classist Rainbow Coalition, a prominent multicultural political organization that combined Black Panthers, Young Patriots, and the Young Lords, which were all leftist political organizations that included African Americans, White Southerners, and Puerto Ricans. Hampton also formed an alliance among major Chicago street gangs to help them end infighting and work for social change. Hampton began his activism in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), serving as the Youth Council President of the West Suburban branch in the Chicago area.