Mayor Brandon Johnson declared August 30th Chairman Fred Hampton Day in the City of Chicago to honor the slain leader of the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party.

Chairman Fred Hampton’s commitment to racial and economic equality was the driving force that fueled his every action.

Around 4:30 a.m. on December 4, 1969, plainclothes officers from the Chicago Police Department armed with shotguns and machine guns kicked down the door of the Chicago apartment where several Black Panther Party members were staying and opened fire on them.

Though the Party members were asleep in their beds at the time and posed no threat, the officers fired over 90 bullets into the apartment, killing Fred Hampton, 21, and Mark Clark, 22—two leaders of the Black Panther Party—and critically wounded four other Party members. Mr. Hampton had been asleep next to his fiancé, who was eight months pregnant when he was killed.

He was murdered by Chicago on December 4, 1969. 

Hampton was born in Summit, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

“I was honored to join Chairman Fred Hampton’s widow Akua Njeri and son Fred Hampton Jr. on the West Side at a celebration of his life and legacy,” said Mayor Johson.

Free breakfast, medical, and transportation programs for thousands of Black families were the hallmarks of his work as a leader and organizer.