The childhood home of Black Panther leader Fred Hampton will soon become a community center, museum and recording studio.
The house — located at 804 S. 17th Ave in Maywood — had previously been in foreclosure before being purchased by Hampton’s estate. The process to have the house designated a landmark, as his family is seeking, would also save it from future sales or demolition.
A GoFundMe effort called Save the Hampton House was started in December of last year with the purpose of preserving, protecting and rehabilitating “the childhood home of Black Panther Party Chairman Fred Hampton.”
“We are seeking landmark status for the home and plan to establish it as a museum,” the description reads. “We are also facilitating educational services, community gardens and a meeting place for community development.”
The fundraiser has surpassed its $350,000 goal.
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Interest in the life of Hampton has greatly increased since the buzz over Judas and the Black Messiah, the long-awaited spellbinder directed by Shaka King, which depicts the relationship between Hampton and FBI informant William O’Neal, who infiltrated the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party.
The film, which stars Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield as Hampton and O’Neal, recently debuted in selected theaters and on HBO Max, generating critical and fan acclaim for its top-notch acting, inspirational characters and even authentic costuming.
A YouTube clip of O’Neal’s interview for Eyes on the Prize II has racked up thousands of new views and comments that read, “Who else is here after watching Judas and the Black Messiah?”
Writing for theGrio, DeMicia Inman wrote that O’Neal “shares his realization that the information he supplied was the driving force behind the police action, which left 21-year-old Hampton and another Black Panther leader, 22-year-old Mark Clark, dead.”
The fiery, charismatic Hampton was assassinated at the age of 21. He never lived to meet his only child, Fred Hampton, Jr., who his currently the president and chairman of the Prisoners of Conscience Committee and the Black Panther Party Cubs.
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