Overview

• The Near West Side block at 2337 W. Monroe St. now carries the name Honorary Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. Way after a Saturday unveiling on what would have been Hampton’s 77th birthday.
• Mayor Brandon Johnson joined Hampton’s family and organizers at the ceremony, saying he is “deeply, deeply influenced by the Black Panther Party.”
• Hampton and Mark Clark were killed in a Dec. 4, 1969 police raid later tied to an FBI program targeting the Panthers, with ballistics showing police fired nearly all the shots.
• A federal grand jury determined police falsified reports on the raid, and records indicated an FBI informant had drugged Hampton before officers entered the apartment.
• The case resulted in a $1.85 million settlement paid by Chicago, Cook County and the federal government, and the block has hosted annual birthday commemorations that drew families of Breonna Taylor, Michael Brown and Jacob Blake Jr.