Fred Hampton was a Black Panther leader who was assassinated by the Chicago police on December 4, 1969. Using a bogus warrant and a detailed floor plan, the police burst into Hampton’s apartment at 4 a.m. They fired one hundred bullets, killed Black Panther Mark Clark, shot Hampton’s unconscious body at point black range, and then beat and arrested any surviving Panthers. An FBI infiltrator had supplied the floor plan and drugged Hampton before the raid. Twenty-one years old at the time of his murder, Hampton had organized one of the strongest Black Panther chapters in the country with free food, education, and healthcare programs. By 1969 he was ready to become the party’s national spokesperson, replacing leadership that had been destroyed by jail, court trials, and exile. Threatened by the Panthers’ militancy, the US government attacked the group with police beatings, false arrests, long prison terms, and illegal harassment. In 1982 the survivors of the raid and the families of Hampton and Clark won a $1.85 million civil lawsuit, but no criminal charges were ever filed against the Chicago police.
Originally printed at the worker-owned Bad Dog Printshop, Chicago (RIP).
Reprinted in 2022 at Community Printers, Santa Cruz, CA
This is #13 in the Celebrate People’s History Poster Series.
