International Encyclopedia of Revolution and Protest

Extract

On December 4, 1969, the Chicago police raided the apartment of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party (BPP), killing Hampton and Mark Clark. With the assistance of a paid FBI informant, William O'Neal, the FBI had amassed a 12-volume, 4,000-page file on Hampton. This ended the life of one of the most promising young leaders of the 1960s. It is crucial to understand the larger context in which this action was taken. The Black Panthers believed that black communities could develop by utilizing the strengths of the people themselves. They did not translate the struggle for self-reliance as a struggle for autarchy. Not only did they utilize external forces, they were also able to inspire people to undertake struggles in their own interests. Thus they were able to get wealthy liberals such as Leonard Bernstein to assist them in raising funds, and develop alliances with organizations such as the Puerto Rican Young Lords in Chicago, the Chicano Brown Berets, the white working-class Young Patriots who had moved from Appalachia to the northside of Chicago, and the Chinese American Red Guards. One of the most remarkable of the young leaders of the BPP was Fred Hampton, leader of the Maywood, Illinois NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Known in Maywood as a remarkable young man, Hampton is said to have defused a potential riot by leading ... log in or subscribe to read full text