As founder of Chicago's chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in 1968, Fred Hampton was a man of the people. He spearheaded setting up programs designed to educate and alleviate suffering in poor and working class black neighborhoods, which knew predominantly violence and repression. His charisma helped him persuade the city's most powerful street gangs to agree on a nonaggression pact, marking the original version of the "rainbow coalition." His ability to focus dissent and serve as inspiration for countless activists then and now was what led the Chicago police, assisted by Hampton's informant bodyguard and the FBI's COINTELPRO, to gun him and Mark Clark down as they slept. Ballistic evidence revealed that only one bullet had been fired by the Panthers whereas nearly a hundred came from police guns. December 4 is a day to remember all those that have struggled for social justice and true peace.

FBI.gov BPP FOIA documents | BPP Newspaper Collection | The Huey P. Newton Foundation | Black Panther Film Festival | More background