Fred Hampton Jr. (born Alfred Johnson; December 29, 1969) is an American political activist, based in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He is the president and chairman of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee and the Black Panther Party Cubs. He is the only child of

Fred Hampton Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an 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 c ...

, the Black Panther Party leader killed by police in Chicago on December 4, 1969, with his fiancée, now known as

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Early life and education

Born in Chicago, Hampton is the son of

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

leader

and his fiancée, Deborah Johnson. He was born 25 days after his father's assassination by the

Chicago police The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States, under the jurisdiction of the Chicago City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United ...

, at the age of 21, in a 1969 FBI instigated raid. His mother named him Alfred Johnson at birth. When he was ten years old, she had his name legally changed to "Fred Hampton Jr." She had already changed her own name to

, as she increasingly had identified with Africa in the years after Hampton Sr's death. Hampton graduated from Tilden High School and studied journalism at

Olive–Harvey College Olive–Harvey College is a community college in Chicago's far South Side, and is a part of the City Colleges of Chicago. History Olive–Harvey College began serving residents of the South Side in the late 1950s with the opening of the Fenger ...

Career

During the late 1980s, Hampton worked part-time as an auto mechanic while speaking at rallies and working as an organizer for the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (NPDUM), an interracial group. He also sold ''The Burning Spear'', the newspaper associated with the affiliated African Socialist Party. He now serves as president and chairman of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee (POCC) and the Black Panther Party Cubs (BPPC), made up of descendants of Black Panthers. He continues to organize to bring people together across racial and class lines. He also is a spoken word artist and poet, and draws from his experiences with police and incarceration.

Legal issues

During his early adulthood, Hampton was tried and acquitted on charges of armed robbery and murder. He and his supporters say that he was framed. In 1993, he was convicted of aggravated arson. The case involved the 1992 firebombing of a Korean menswear store and a Korean jewelry store in

Halsted Street Halsted Street is a major north-south street in the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois. Location In Chicago's grid system, Halsted Street marks 800 West, west of State Street, from Grace Street (3800 N) in Lakeview south to the city limits ...

. No persons were injured. The arson occurred in 1992, during the

1992 Los Angeles riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, United States, during April and May 1992. Unrest began in South Los Angeles, South Central Los Angeles on April 29, after ...

, a six-day period of protests and outrage in many African-American communities after the acquittal of four

Los Angeles Police Department The City of Los Angeles Police Department, commonly referred to as Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), is the primary law enforcement agency of Los Angeles, California, United States. With 8,832 officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the th ...

(LAPD) officers who were charged with excessive force in the beating of African-American motorist

Rodney King Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was a Black American victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by Police officer, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high spe ...

during an arrest. The incident had been videotaped and widely viewed in television broadcasts. Hampton and his supporters maintain his innocence, claiming he was framed in both cases. During the trial, fire officials testified that the bottles that held the gasoline never broke, preventing more widescale damage. According to Hampton's supporters, the fingerprint expert for the Chicago Police Department Crime Lab testified that none of Hampton's fingerprints were found on the bottles. But photographs of his hands showed blisters that were evident when he was arrested. Hampton was sentenced to eighteen years in prison. He was

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

d on September 14, 2001.

In popular culture

*Hampton appeared in

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker and producer noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one o ...

's 2006 film ''

Dave Chappelle's Block Party ''Dave Chappelle's Block Party'' (also known as ''Block Party'') is a 2005 American documentary-concert film starring comedian Dave Chappelle at the height of his early mainstream success and cultural influence. Directed by Academy Award-winning f ...

''. *His 1993 trial is referred to in

Fall Out Boy Fall Out Boy is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Wilmette, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, lead guitarist Joe Trohman, and drummer A ...

's song " You're Crashing, But You're No Wave". *He and his father are mentioned in the song "Behind Enemy Lines" by

Dead Prez Dead Prez (stylized in lowercase) is an American hip hop duo composed of M-1 and stic.man, formed in 1996 in New York City. They are known for their confrontational style, combined with lyrics focused on both militant social justice, self-de ...

, as well as "Clap for the Killers" by

Street Sweeper Social Club Street Sweeper Social Club is an American rap rock supergroup, formed in Los Angeles, California in 2006. The band primarily consists of guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and vocalist and emcee Boots Riley of the Coup. The band ...

. Hampton and his mother both worked as consultants on the film ''

Judas and the Black Messiah Judas Iscariot (; ; died AD) was, according to Christianity's four canonical gospels, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. Judas betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin in the Garden of Gethsemane, in exchange for thirty pieces of s ...

'' (2021), a biopic about his father co-written and directed by

Shaka King Shaka King (born March 7, 1980) is an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He is best known for directing and co-writing the 2021 biopic '' Judas and the Black Messiah''. Biography An only child, King was born on March 7, ...

. It stars

Daniel Kaluuya Daniel Kaluuya (; born 24 February 1989) is an English actor. His work encompasses both screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Daniel Kaluuya, his accolades include an Academy Awards, Academy Award, two British Academy ...

as Hampton Sr. and

LaKeith Stanfield LaKeith Lee Stanfield (born August 12, 1991) is an American actor. He made his feature film debut in '' Short Term 12'' (2013), for which he was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. He received further recognition for his roles in the fil ...

as William O'Neal, a young

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

informant who infiltrated the Panthers. With nearly equal screen time in the film, both men were nominated for Academy Awards as Best Supporting Actor; Kaluuya won.

References

External links

Fred Hampton Junior Speaks to VIBE
2004 interview with

VIBE Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

magazine {{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, Fred Jr. 1969 births Living people Activists for African-American civil rights Activists from Chicago American people convicted of arson American prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of California