Fred Hampton Parents: Meet Iberia Hampton & Francis Allen Hampton

Fred Hampton is the son of Iberia Hampton and Francis Allen Hampton. He moved with his parents to another Chicago suburb, Maywood at age 10.

His parents had come from Louisiana as part of the Great Migration of African Americans in the early 20th century out of the South. They both worked at the Argo Starch Company, a corn starch processor.

As a youth, Hampton was gifted both in the classroom and athletically and hoped to play centre field for the New York Yankees.

In 1966, Fred Hampton turned 18. At that time, he started identifying with the Third World socialist struggles, as well as reading communist revolutionaries Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong.

Hampton became active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and assumed leadership of its West Suburban Branch’s Youth Council.