The Legacy of Fred Hampton: Remembering as an Active Process
Fred Hampton Mural. Photo courtesy of author.
Editor’s Note: The following essay is part of a politics dossier featuring presenters from The Latinx Project’s recent conference, “Latinx Politics — Resistance, Disruption & Power.” To download the PDF, click here.
Living in Hampton’s home community of Maywood and attending his alma mater is a unique experience for Latinx students because their communities intentionally remember Hampton’s life. Remembering is an active process for the Maywood community, which maintains the cultural symbols that Hampton strived for. Students at Proviso East High School are introduced to a Black role model who fought for their right to be treated fairly in school and to have resources in their community.
Born in 1948, Fred Hampton was an activist and revolutionary who advocated for his community as a student at Proviso East and later as a young adult in Chicago, before becoming chairman for the Illinois Black Panther Party. He is famously remembered for organizing the Rainbow Coalition that united Black, Latinx, Asian, and White Chicago residents against police brutality and substandard housing.
At the age of 14, Hampton organized a chapter of the NAACP in his community Maywood, Illinois. Hampton got his start in community organizing by advocating for a desegregated public swimming pool in Maywood. In 1966, Hampton graduated from Proviso East with honors.
Today, Maywood is home to a predominately Black or African-American (non-Latinx) community, with a growing Latinx immigrant population. As such, most students at Proviso East are identified as students of color (98%).
Attending Proviso East can be a radicalizing educational experience for many students because they are taught about Hampton throughout the entirety of their high school experience. At first, many incoming first-year students at Proviso East do not know who Fred Hampton was or what he represented. However, this quickly changes during their first freshman assembly where students are taught about the culture of the school. The teachers and staff at Proviso encourage students to learn about their community and become inspired by those who have previously studied there. Students learn about the expectations for students and about the school’s most famous alum, Fred Hampton. They learn that Hampton was a Black Panther who advocated for free breakfast programs in Chicago. The assembly is accompanied by a performance by the theatre club who perform monologue with facts about Hampton’s life and the school band that plays music in his honor.
Students also learn about one of the most key aspects of Hampton’s life, including his assassination by the Chicago Police and FBI. Administrators and teachers carefully explain that Hampton was heinously murdered while he slept alongside his pregnant fiancé, Deborah Johnson. Hampton’s tragic murder at the young age of 21 is a shocking reminder to students about the relevancy of police brutality fifty years ago and today.
Fred Hampton pool and statue: A statue commemorates the life of Fred Hampton. (WBEZ/Flickr)
In reflection of his life, Proviso East students dedicate their time to studying Hampton’s life through various school activities. In December 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic closed down in-personal classes, the teachers and students memorialized the 50th anniversary of Hampton’s death with a series of contests. Students competed in three categories: oratory, essay, and art. Students researched Hampton’s life to write speeches interpreting his quotes, created visual art, wrote essays, and reflected on what Hampton’s quotes meant in their lives and in the larger struggle to “end racism in the United States.” Students wrote and illustrated graphic novels about Hampton’s life, made posters about the Black Panthers and the NAACP, recreated the Pan-African flag, drew portraits of Hampton, and displayed their work for all of the community to see. The contest winners won cash prizes as an added incentive as part of a partnership with a local non-profit and Wintrust Bank.
Hampton’s efforts to unite people of all races, fight for racial equality, and determination to fight for his principles inspired two Latinx students who won the first and second place prize for best artistic representation honoring Hampton’s life. First place winner Francis Vazquez wrote a graphic novel called “Fred Hampton’s Legacy” and second place winner Kaela Delgado created an art piece titled “Fred Hampton-Life and Legacy.”
Many students admired that Hampton’s son, Fred Hampton Jr., grew up to become a revolutionary like his father. Fred Hampton Jr. is the chairman of the Black Panther Party Cubs. Every year he organizes the Chicago community to honor his father’s birthday. Many Proviso East students participate in the annual memorial and march Hampton Jr. organizes to his childhood home where his father was assassinated.
In February 2020, students celebrated Black history month by creating informational art pieces that featured Black and Afro-Latinx leaders, movements, and organizations. Many students chose to honor Fred Hampton in their art. Their art is featured in the hallways throughout the school for all to see.
Latinx students also learn about Hampton in their extracurricular activities, specifically the Latinx cultural club called Raza Unida. Raza Unida is led by Miguel Lopez, a math teacher and immigrant from Mexico. Lopez brings together club members once a week to play games like Mexican loteria, learn to dance Latin music, and learn about different Latin American issues.
Lopez argues it is important for his students to know about Hampton and reflect on the connections between their lives and his. He dedicated an entire club meeting to discuss the history of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton, and his assassination. Students shared moments when they experienced racial discrimination and ended the discussion saying “Latinos should learn about Hampton because he wanted to unite everybody and even though he was a different race [from me] he wanted equality for everybody.” Latinx students left the club meeting with an understanding that efforts towards racial equality benefit everyone, and that they are not solely Black issues.
Like the students in Raza Unida, Hampton was also involved in extracurricular activities. He was elected by his peers to be part of the Interracial Cross Section Committee and was president of Junior Achievement. Through these organizations he fought to end racism at Proviso East and reform his racist White peers. He also led a march to the Maywood Police Department when one of his classmates was unjustly arrested. From a young age, Hampton was committed to fighting for justice in his community.
Through school-wide assemblies, a speaker-series and student art display during Black history month, and clubs, the legacy of Fred Hampton lives on. The students at his alma mater study his life seriously and are given opportunities throughout the year to pay homage and reflect on Hampton’s revolutionary life. When school ends and summer begins, families swim at the Fred Hampton Aquatic Center and walk past his steel bust. Hampton’s legacy is physically and visibly celebrated.
Students will be excited to learn about the upcoming 2021 movie Judas the Black Messiah directed by Shaka King and produced by the Black Panther director, Ryan Coogler. The film aims to provide a different insight into Hampton’s life, focusing on the polarized personalities and values held by Hampton and his close friend and security guard, William O’Neal. Students will now have another interpretation to add to their collection of films about Hampton’s life, which includes the documentary The Murder of Fred Hampton released in 1971.
Elizabeth Barahona is a third year Ph.D. history student at Northwestern University. She studies the history of coalition-building in the Deep South. She is originally from Orlando, Florida, and studied in North Carolina at Duke University. Elizabeth works with high school students and provides college and scholarship workshops for low-income students of color. She has worked with students at Proviso East in the Maywood community.