Making Fred Hampton

“I don’t believe I’m going to die slipping on a piece of ice. I don’t believe I’m going to die because I got a bad heart…I believe that I will be able to die as a revolutionary in the international revolutionary proletarian struggle.” - Fred Hampton, 1969

Fred Hampton became the Chairman of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party when he was just years out of high school. His oratory talent and intellectual grasp on leftist literature quickly shot him to stardom in activist circles. But, his leadership did not last long. In 1969, when he was just 21 years old, he was assassinated during a raid on his home orchestrated by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Chicago Police Department and the FBI.

“He knew the power and potential of Fred Hampton,” former Congressman Bobby Rush said of the FBI Director at the time. “So I’m telling you, the man was nothing but greatness.”

Today, in a special Black History Month episode of Making, in collaboration with The Rundown podcast, we tell the story of iconic Chicago liberation activist Fred Hampton. Our hosts Brandon Pope and Erin Allen sat down with original members of the Black Panther Party, attorneys who fought his post-assassination lawsuits in the 1960s and family members who carry on his legacy.

Making tells the story of a different, iconic figure every episode. Subscribe now.