Fred Hampton

African-American activist

Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. was an African American activist and revolutionary socialist. He came to prominence in his late teens and early 20s in Chicago as deputy chairman of the national Black Panther Party and chair of the Illinois chapter.

He founded the anti-racist, anti-classist Rainbow Coalition, a prominent multicultural political organization that initially included Black Panthers, Young Patriots, and the Young Lords, and an alliance among major Chicago street gangs to help them end infighting and work for social change.

Hampton was a Marxist–Leninist, and he considered fascism the greatest threat to African American communities.