Making Fred Hampton

Making

WBEZ Chicago

Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 February 2024

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

“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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We said even before this happened, and we're going to say after this, not the I'm locked up,
0:05.5	not everybody's locked up, that you can jail a revolutionary, but you can The other revolution. From W.E.Z. Chicago, this is Making. I'm Erin Allen. And I'm Brandon Pope.
0:31.8	Today on a special edition of Making, we celebrate Black History Month with our friend from the rundown
0:38.0	that talented and intelligent Aaron Allen.
0:41.0	Why thank you, Brandon.
0:42.8	And on this episode of making, we're diving into the legacy of a renowned Chicago revolutionary.
0:49.0	But when I leave, you can remember I said, with the last words on my little glum
0:54.7	a revolutionary and you're going out to keep on saying that.
0:59.8	Fred Hampton.
1:01.1	Yeah that's right Aaron.
1:02.0	Fred Hampton was the chairman of the Illinois
1:04.1	chapter of the Black Panther Party in the late 1960s. He was a renowned orator
1:08.8	and built solidarity between marginalized people of all races, a real unifier.
1:14.8	But tragically his life was cut short.
1:18.2	He was only 21 when he was assassinated during a raid on his home.
1:23.6	It was a plot orchestrated by the Cook County State's
1:26.4	attorney, the Chicago Police Department, and the FBI.
1:30.1	Today we reflect on the life and legacy of a Chicago liberation hero.
1:35.3	How does a boy from the suburbs grow up to become a civil rights icon?
1:39.8	How does a young man, just months after his 21st birthday so severely threaten the national
1:46.3	establishment?
1:47.8	What were the years that define Frederick Allen Hampton?
	...

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