This page is dedicated to the Revolutionaries both past and present. The People who fought for our rights, demanded equality and refused to allow the oppressors to hold them down. There are many Freedom Fighters all over the world, this page only consist of a few. These Foot Soldiers continued marching forward by any means necessary!

Fred Hampton

Fred Hampton was born in 1948 in Chicago, and grew up in Maywood, a suburb just to the west of the city. His parents had moved north from Louisiana, and both held jobs at the Argo Starch Company. As a youth, Hampton was gifted both in the classroom and on the athletic field. To those who knew him, he seemed a likely candidate to escape the ghetto and "make it" in the white-dominated world outside. At Proviso East High School in Maywood, Hampton earned three varsity letters and won a Junior Achievement Award. He graduated with honors in 1966. Following his graduation, Hampton enrolled at Triton Junior College in nearby River Grove, Illinois, majoring in pre-law. He also became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), assuming leadership of the Youth Council of the organization's West Suburban Branch. In his capacity as an NAACP youth organizer, Hampton began to show signs of his natural leadership ability. From a community of 27,000, he was able to muster a youth group 500-members strong, an impressive size even for a constituency twice as large. Hampton considered it his mission to create a better environment for the development of young African Americans. He worked to get more and better recreational facilities established in the neighborhoods, and to improve educational resources for Maywood's African American community. Through his involvement with the NAACP, Hampton hoped to achieve social change through nonviolent activism and community organizing. At about the same time that Hampton was successfully organizing young African Americans for the NAACP, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense started rising to national prominence. Hampton was quickly attracted to the Black Panther approach, which was based on a ten-point program of African American self-determination. Hampton joined the Black Panther Party and relocated to downtown Chicago, where he launched the party's Illinois chapter in November of 1968. Over the next year, Hampton and his associates recorded a number of significant achievements in Chicago. Perhaps his most important accomplishment was his brokering of a nonaggression pact between Chicago's most powerful street gangs.

By emphasizing that racial and ethnic conflict between gangs would only keep its members entrenched in poverty, he was able to forge a class-conscious, multiracial alliance of black, Puerto Rican, and poor white youths. In May of 1969, Hampton called a press conference to announce that a truce had been declared among this "rainbow coalition," a phrase coined by Hampton and made popular over the years by Rev. Jesse Jackson. Equally important was Hampton's work as a developer of community service programs. His leadership helped create a program that provided free breakfasts for schoolchildren, a program the Panters had initiated in several cities. Hampton was also instrumental in the establishment of a free medical clinic, and other programs accessible to poor African Americans. By the tender age of 20, Hampton had become a respected community leader among Chicago's black population. Fred Hanpton was an organizer and a revolutionary, Hampton's commitment was genuine. In a 1969 interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, he openly declared that "I'm not afraid to say I'm at war with the pigs." Still, his position on violence was that it was necessary for self-defense; People of African decent needed to protect themselves against the brutal tactics of the police and other white-dominated institutions. "What this country has done to nonviolent leaders like Martin Luther King--I think that objectively says there's going to have to be an armed struggle," he was quoted as saying in the Sun-Times article. By all accounts, Hampton was one of the most articulate and persuasive leaders of his time. His quiet demeanor and restrained speaking style belied the abrasive image most people attached to the Black Panthers. The Rev. Thomas Strieter, a member of the Maywood village board who knew Hampton from his earliest days as an organizer, was quoted in a 1994 Chicago magazine article as saying that Hampton "had charm coming out his ears. My impression of the Black Panthers in Oakland (California) was that they were thugs. Fred was not a thug." Former Chicago corporation counsel James Montgomery called him "one of the most persuasive speakers I've ever heard." Dr. Quentin Young, a member of Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's inner circle, went even further. "He (Hampton) was a giant, and this is not some idle white worship of a black man," he was quoted in Chicago as saying. "This is a terrible way to put it, but the people who made it their business to kill the leaders of the black movement picked the right ones."

Indeed, while Hampton impressed many of the people with whom he came into contact as a great leader and talented communicator, those very qualities marked him as a major threat in the eyes of the FBI and other concerned agencies. The FBI began keeping close tabs on his activities, and subsequent investigations have shown that FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover was determined to prevent the formation of a cohesive Black radical movement in the United States. Hoover saw the Panthers, and gang coalitions like that forged by Hampton in Chicago, as frightening stepping stones toward the creation of just such a revolutionary body. Urged on by the FBI, the Chicago police launched an all-out assault on the Black Panthers and their allies, characterizing the group as nothing more than a criminal gang. Over the course of the escalating conflict in 1969, eleven black youths from Chicago's South Side were killed in separate skirmishes with police. During that year alone, shoot-outs killed or wounded a dozen Panther members and almost as many police officers. Over 100 Black Panthers were arrested during the year, and Panther party headquarters at 2337 West Monroe Street on the city's West Side were raided by police and FBI agents four separate times. The last of these four raids was the one in which Hampton was killed. One of the individuals who spent a lot of time at Panther headquarters in Chicago was William O'Neal. It turned out that O'Neal, a convicted car thief, had been recruited out of the county jail to be a paid informant for the FBI. One of O'Neal's chief contributions to the FBI's infiltration of the Black Panthers was to provide them with a floor plan of the building. O'Neal's information was key to the December 4, 1969, police raid that killed Hampton and fellow party member Mark Clark. Four other Panthers were seriously injured.

Chicago Police entered the building at 4:45 in the morning. The police version of the raid claimed that the Panthers began firing guns at them the moment they began knocking on the door. According to this version of events, a ten-minute shootout ensued, resulting in the deaths of Hampton and Clark. Subsequent investigations suggest otherwise; it is likely, in fact, that the raid more closely resembled an execution than a legitimate police action. For example, ballistic evidence showed that at most one shot could have been fired by a Panther. The police did virtually all of the shooting that took place. Hampton died in bed. There is strong evidence that he had been drugged that night, probably by O'Neal, and it is likely that he slept through the entire ordeal. Hampton's funeral was attended by 5,000 people, and he was eulogized by such black leaders as Jesse Jackson and Ralph Abernathy, Martin Luther King's successor as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In his eulogy, Jackson noted that "when Fred was shot in Chicago, black people in particular, and decent people in general, bled everywhere." The officers involved in the raid were cleared by a grand jury of any crimes. The families of Hampton and Clark filed a $47.7 million civil suit against the city, state, and federal governments. More than a decade later, the suit was finally settled, and the two families each received a large but undisclosed sum. In 1990, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution declaring "Fred Hampton Day" in honor of the slain leader. Hampton's memory lives on, a scholarship fund was set up in his name by Jackson and Abernathy. Education may be a less dramatic path to social change than armed revolt, but Hampton's idea of revolution was broad enough to include it. As Hampton often said, according to The Nation, "You can kill a revolutionary, but you cannot kill a revolution. You can jail a liberation fighter, but you cannot jail liberation."

Marcus Garvey

Garvey was born in Jamaica and immigrated to Harlem in 1916 at the age of 28. In his homeland he had been an admirer of Booker T. Washington's philosophy of self-improvement for people of African descent and had formed the Jamaica Improvement Association. When he arrived in America his ideas expanded and he became a Black Nationalist. For him, Africa was the ancestral home and spiritual base for all people of African descent. His political goal was to take Africa back from European domination and build a free and United Black Africa. He advocated the Back-to-Africa Movement and organized a shipping company called the Black Star Line which was part of his program to conduct international trade between black Africans and the rest of the world in order to "uplift the race" and eventually return to Africa. Garvey studied all of the literature he could find on African history and culture and decided to launch the Universal Negro Improvement Association with the goal of unifying "all the Negro peoples of the world into one great body and to establish a country and government absolutely on their own". The motto of the U.N.I.A. was "One God! One Aim! One Destiny." The Negro World was the U.N.I.A. weekly newspaper founded in 1918. It was published in French and Spanish as well as English. In it African history and heroes were glorified.

The ranks of the U.N.I.A. were comprised of African "nobility" - knights of the Nile, dukes of the Niger and Uganda; knights of Ethiopia, duchesses, etc. Garvey himself was the "Provisional President of Africa" and he and the members of his empire paraded in elaborate military uniforms. Harlem loved parades and street ceremonies, and the U.N.I.A. gave the grandest. During their annual conventions, thousands of delgates from all over the United States, the Caribbean, Central America and Africa marched up and down the streets of Harlem with their banners, uniforms and colorfully decorated cars. Garvey travelled throughout the United States speaking and meeting with African-American leaders. In the post World War I economic crisis and with racial discrimination, lynching and poor housing, the masses of Black people were ready for a leader who was aggressive and had a plan to "uplift the race". The U.N.I.A. grew quickly. By 1919 there were over 30 branches throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa. Garvey claimed over a milllion people had joined his organization in 3 years. In nine years Garvey built the largest mass movement of people of African descent in this country's history. It began to fail after he was convicted of mail fraud and was deported from the U.S. The Black Star Line failed because of purported mismanagement and lack of sufficient funds. However, the U.N.I.A. still survives today and Garvey left a legacy of racial pride and identification with a glorious African heritage for African Americans.

Malcolm X

Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little on May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Louise Norton Little, was a homemaker occupied with the family's eight children. His father, Earl Little, was an outspoken Baptist minister and avid supporter of Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey. Earl's civil rights activism prompted death threats from the white supremacist organization Black Legion, forcing the family to relocate twice before Malcolm's fourth birthday. Regardless of the Little's efforts to elude the Legion, in 1929 their Lansing, Michigan home was burned to the ground. Two years later, Earl's body was found lying across the town's trolley tracks. Police ruled both incidents as accidents, but the Little's were certain that members of the Black Legion were responsible. Louise suffered emotional breakdown several years after the death of her husband and was committed to a mental institution. Her children were split up amongst various foster homes and orphanages. Malcolm was a smart, focused student. He graduated from junior high at the top of his class. However, when a favorite teacher told Malcolm his dream of becoming a lawyer was "no realistic goal for a nigger," Malcolm lost interest in school. He dropped out, spent some time in Boston, Massachusetts working various odd jobs, and then traveled to Harlem, New York where he committed petty crimes. By 1942 Malcolm was coordinating various narcotics, prostitution and gambling rings. Eventually Malcolm and his buddy, Malcolm "Shorty" Jarvis, moved back to Boston. In 1946 they were arrested and convicted on burglary charges, and Malcolm was sentenced to 10 years in prison. (He was paroled after serving seven years.) Recalling his days in school, he used the time to further his education. It was during this period of self-enlightenment that Malcolm's brother Reginald would visit and discuss his recent conversion to the Muslim religion. Reginald belonged to the religious organization the Nation of Islam (NOI).Intrigued, Malcolm began to study the teachings of NOI leader Elijah Muhammad. Muhammad taught that white society actively worked to keep African-Americans from empowering themselves and achieving political, economic and social success. Among other goals, the NOI fought for a state of their own, separate from one inhabited by white people. By the time he was paroled in 1952, Malcolm was a devoted follower with the new surname "X." (He considered "Little" a slave name and chose the "X" to Intelligent and articulate, Malcolm was appointed as a minister and national spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Elijah Muhammad also charged him with establishing new mosques in cities such as Detroit, Michigan and Harlem, New York. Malcolm utilized newspaper columns, as well as radio and television to communicate the NOI's message across the United States.

His charisma, drive and conviction attracted an astounding number of new members. Malcolm was largely credited with increasing membership in the NOI from 500 in 1952 to 30,000 in 1963. The crowds and controversy surrounding Malcolm made him a media magnet. He was featured in a week-long television special with Mike Wallace in 1959, called "The Hate That Hate Produced." The program explored the fundamentals of the NOI, and tracked Malcolm's emergence as one of its most important leaders. After the special, Malcolm was faced with the uncomfortable reality that his fame had eclipsed that of his mentor Elijah Muhammad. Racial tensions ran increasingly high during the early 1960s. In addition to the media, Malcolm's vivid personality had captured the government's attention. As membership in the NOI continued to grow, FBI agents infiltrated the organization (one even acted as Malcolm's bodyguard) and secretly placed bugs, wiretaps, cameras and other surveillance equipment to monitor the group's activities. Malcolm's faith was dealt a crushing blow at the height of the civil rights movement in 1963. He learned that his mentor and leader, Elijah Muhammad, was secretly having relations with as many as six women within the Nation of Islam organization. As if that were not enough, Malcolm found out that some of these relationships had resulted in children. Since joining the NOI, Malcolm had strictly adhered to the teachings of Muhammad - which included remaining celibate until his marriage to Betty Shabazz in 1958. Malcolm refused Muhammad's request to help cover up the affairs and subsequent children. He was deeply hurt by the deception of Muhammad, whom he had considered a living prophet. Malcolm also felt guilty about the masses he had led to join the NOI, which he now felt was a fraudulent organization built on too many lies to ignore. Shortly after his shocking discovery, Malcolm received criticism for a comment he made regarding the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. "[Kennedy] never foresaw that the chickens would come home to roost so soon," said Malcolm. After the statement, Elijah Muhammad "silenced" Malcolm for 90 days. Malcolm, however, suspected he was silenced for another reason. In March 1964 Malcolm terminated his relationship with the NOI. Unable to look past Muhammad's deception, Malcolm decided to found his own religious organization, the Muslim Mosque, Inc.

That same year, Malcolm went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. The trip proved life altering. For the first time, Malcolm shared his thoughts and beliefs with different cultures, and found the response to be overwhelmingly positive. When he returned, Malcolm said he had met "blonde-haired, blued-eyed men I could call my brothers." He returned to the United States with a new outlook on integration and a new hope for the future. This time when Malcolm spoke, instead of just preaching to African-Americans, he had a message for all races. After Malcolm resigned his position in the Nation of Islam and renounced Elijah Muhammad, relations between the two had become increasingly volatile. FBI informants working undercover in the NOI warned officials that Malcolm had been marked for assassination. (One undercover officer had even been ordered to help plant a bomb in Malcolm's car). After repeated attempts on his life, Malcolm rarely traveled anywhere without bodyguards. On February 14, 1965 the home where Malcolm, Betty and their four daughters lived in East Elmhurst, New York was firebombed. Luckily, the family escaped physical injury. One week later, however, Malcolm's enemies were successful in their ruthless attempt. At a speaking engagement in the Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom on February 21, 1965 three gunmen rushed Malcolm onstage. They shot him 15 times at close range. The 39-year-old was pronounced dead on arrival at New York's Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. Fifteen hundred people attended Malcolm's funeral in Harlem on February 27, 1965 at the Faith Temple Church of God in Christ (now Child's Memorial Temple Church of God in Christ). After the ceremony, friends took the shovels away from the waiting gravediggers and buried Malcolm themselves. Later that year, Betty gave birth to their twin daughters. Malcolm's assassins, Talmadge Hayer, Norman 3X Butler and Thomas 15X Johnson were convicted of first-degree murder in March 1966. The three men were all members of the Nation of Islam. The legacy of Malcolm X has moved through generations as the subject of numerous documentaries, books and movies. A tremendous resurgence of interest occurred in 1992 when director Spike Lee released the acclaimed movie, Malcolm X. The film received Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Denzel Washington) and Best Costume Design. Malcolm X is buried at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur (born July 16, 1947) was a leader in the Black Liberation movement in the United States. Her name at birth was JoAnne Deborah Byron Chesimard, although she changed it to avoid using what she considered to be a slave name. She grew up in New York City and attended Manhattan Community College , where she was involved in many struggles. In her career as a social leader and revolutionary, she has fought for welfare recipients' rights, free breakfast programs in poor Black neighborhoods, prisoners' rights, and many other causes, both as a member of the Black Panther Party and in other organizations. On May 2, 1973, Shakur, no longer a member of the Black Panther Party, was stopped on the New Jersey State Turnpike, along with two Black Panthers: Zayd Shakur and Sundiata Acoli . In an ensuing gunfight, Zayd Shakur and one New Jersey state policeman were killed and Assata Shakur and one New Jersey state policeman were injured. Over the next two-and-a-half years, Assata Shakur claims she was incarcerated, beaten, and tortured in a series of federal and state prisons while being tried in six different criminal trials arranged by the FBI COINTELPRO program against the Black liberation movement. The charges ranged from kidnapping to assault and battery to bank robbery. She was acquitted in all six cases. However, Shakur was found guilty of the murder of both the state trooper and her companion Zayd Shakur, for her involvement at the gun battle. In 1979 she escaped prison and lived underground until 1986, when she was granted political asylum in Cuba. In 1998, the United States Congress unanimously passed a resolution asking Cuba for the extradition of JoAnne Chesimard. Many members of the Congressional Black Caucus later explained that they were against her extradition, but they had not recognized her name when the bill was proposed. Her book, Assata: An Autobiography, was written in Cuba, where she still resides.

http://handsoffassata.org/

Dr. Khalid Muhummad

Minister Khallid Abdul Muhammad, born Harold Moore, Jr. by his parents, blessed this earth on January 12th, 1948 in Houston, Texas. He was the second? of six children to the late Harold Moore, Sr. and Lottie B. Moore. His Aunt Momma Carrie Moore Vann in Houston, Texas reared him. Minister Khallid Muhammad, affectionately known as "butch" by the family attended Bruce Elementary School, E.O.Smith Junior High School and all Black Phyllis Wheatley High School in Texas. At Phyllis Wheatley, Brother Khallid was an esteemed member of Stagecrafters, a group of exceptional students where he developed debate and drama skills under direction of Ms. Vernell Lillie. Minister Khallid as a young man would preach to cars from his porch as they passed by on the highway and was president of Houston Methodist Youth Fellowship. Khallid was a star quarterback, team captain of his high school football team, an eagle scout, a class officer and a star debater. Upon graduating high school, our bold and shining Black prince won a scholarship Dillard University in Louisiana to pursue his degree in theological studies. At this time he ministered at Sloan Memorial Methodist Church. While at Dillard University young Khallid first heard Minister Louis Farrahkan, the National Representative of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. He had a big Afro and a huge medallion of Malcolm X around his neck. After hearing Minister Farrakhan speak Khallid Abdul Muhammad joined the Nation of Islam under the leadership of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Immediately Brother Harold X, as he was known at that time became renown as a top recruiter in the south for the Black Muslims. Dr. Khallid continued his studies and graduated from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles California. He then was the recipient of an academic fellowship, and matriculated to do "Intensive Studies" at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia Universities. The skills of higher education as well as his fighting spirit made Minister Khallid a valuable weapon to the Nation of Islam and the Black Nation in general. When Elijah Muhammad departed from amongst us in 1975, Minister Khallid Abdul Muhammad kept on fighting. At this time he was known as Dr. Malik Rushaddin. He traveled throughout Africa and trained in revolutionary movements with a focus on freeing apartheid ridden South Africa (Azania) from white oppression. When Minister Farrakhan decided to rebuild the Nation of Islam in 1978. Minister Khallid was right there with him when there were just a few. Minister Khallid Muhammad served as western regional minister of the Nation of Islam and leader of Mosque #27, which made lightning progress under his leadership. In 1983 Minister Louis Farrakhan named him Khallid, which has the historical interpretation of "great warrior" after the great follower of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) Khallid ibn Walid. Like this great Islamic general Khallid Muhammad was called the "sword of Allah".. Minister Khallid Abdul Muhammad was soon appointed as Supreme Captain over the military in the Nation of Islam. In 1985 Minister Khallid Abdul Muhammad was appointed National Spokesman and Representative of Minister Louis Farrakhan, following in the footsteps of Minister Farrakhan and Malcolm X. At other points he also served the posts of Southern Regional Minister, Minister of Mosque #7 in Harlem, New York City, and National Assistant. A true Pan Afrikanist, Minister Khallid Muhammad has traveled on research and fact-finding missions to Kemet (Egypt) Jerusalem, South Afrika and throughout the African sub continent. He made his sacred pilgrimage to the Holy City, Mecca, numerous times. He has earned the title El Hajj Khallid Abdul Muhammad. Minister Khallid Abdul Muhammad was the creator and founder of The New African Cultural Holiday alternative to Thanksgiving called "GYE NYAME (G-NY-MAY).

Black youth and "gang" members loved Dr. Khallid. You have heard this dynamic soldier on rap albums from Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube, Sista Souljah, X-Clan, Public Enemy, Scar-Face, Shaquille O'Neill, Erica Badu, Lauren Hill, Dead Prez, Capone N' Noriega and the Black Lyrical Terrorist. Dynamic fiery, explosive, electrifying, spellbinding! He has fired up and inspired audiences at over 100 universities in the United States, Africa, Europe and the world. He spoke at many churches and served as a minister at the 1st Afrocentric Temple in Atlanta, Georgia before his transition to the ancestors. After his historic lecture on November 29, 1993 at Kean College in Union, New Jersey which shook the racist, Zionist, imperialist, white supremist foundation of the world, the President of the United State and Vice President Gore condemned Dr. Khallid Muhammad. The United States Senate voted 97-0 to censure him. Minister Khallid and Minister Louis Farrahkan are the only two in history to be censured by the U.S. Senate. And for the first time in history, The United States House of Representatives (The Full Congress) in a special session, passed House Resolution 343 condemning a so called private citizen. At historic Howard University in 1994 Khallid Muhammad keynoted the world wide-watched Black Holocaust conference with Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Tony Martin and convened by then student organizer Malik Zulu Shabazz.These events shook the world but Khallid Muhammad did not break under the pressure. In May, 1994 an assassination attempt was made on his life. Khallid Muhammad was blessed to recover and fight with even more vigor and intensity. He spoke at many churches and served as a minister at the 1st Afrocentric Temple in Atlanta, Georgia before his transition to the ancestors. 1998 Minister Khallid Abdul Muhammad led an armed militant group of New Black Panther members into Jasper Texas to chase out the Klu Klux Klan who were making a mockery of the beheading and dragging death of brother James Byrd. On Sept 5th, 1998 He was the convener of the Million Youth March Black Power Rally, held on Malcolm X Blvd in New York. With the help of the December 12th Movement, the Million Youth March won historic legal battles against the racist Guiliani administration over free speech "constitutional rights". The Million Youth March went forward the streets of Harlem were flooded with throngs of Black youth and people who supported this massive Black Power revival. In 1998 Dr. Khallid Muhammad was chosen to serve as The National Chairman of The New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, chapters have sprouted nationwide. He leaves intact his National Spokesman- Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz; National Assistant-Hashim Nzinga; National Chief of Staff -Malikah Muhammad; National Minister of Defense- Brother David Foreman; National Minister of Information-Minister Quannell X; National Southern Regional Representative-Sister Zoirada Higgenbothom; National Field Marshall-Minister Malik Shabazz. The New Black Panther Party is alive and well with chapters thriving throughout the country. Dr. Khallid's vision of a Black Power Movement shall live on!!!