The Hamptons may refer to several villages and hamlets in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on the far east end of Suffolk County in Long Island, New York. These townships occupy the South Fork of Long Island, stretching into the Atlantic Ocean. The Hamptons form a popular seaside resort, one of the historical Summer Colonies of the American Northeast. They have some of the most-expensive residential properties in the U.S.

The Montauk Branch of the Long Island Railroad, Montauk Highway, and the Hampton Jitney provide connections to the rest of Long Island and to New York City, while ferries connect North Haven and Montauk to Shelter Island and Connecticut.

West to East

The Hamptons include hamlets and villages in the town of Southampton

:* Southampton (village) :* Water Mill :* Bridgehampton :* Sagaponack (village) :* Sag Harbor (village, shared with East Hampton) :* Hampton Bays, New York :* Quogue, New York (village). :* Westhampton, New York (village).

The Hamptons include the following hamlets and villages in the town of East Hampton: :* Sag Harbor (village, shared with Southampton) :* Wainscott :* East Hampton (village) :* Amagansett

The hamlet Northampton, Suffolk County, New York, further west in the Town of Southampton, is not generally included.

Summer Colony

These areas constitute the core vacation area of this end of Long Island. Only Southampton Village, East Hampton Village, Sag Harbor and Sagaponack are incorporated as villages. All the other areas rely on the townships (East Hampton Town and Southampton Town) for government services.

!Village/Hamlet	!Township	!Population (2000 Census)	!Total Area	!Land Area
		3,965
		1,724
Bridgehampton		1,381
Sagaponack		582
		Sag Harbor	60% Southampton (town), New York	2,313
		628
		1,334
[[Amagansett		1,067

The Summer Colony's residents include many of New York City's affluent residents, as well as a number of affluent people from other nearby states, executives, and increasingly, foreigners from Europe and South America.

Villages and the hamlets of the Summer Colony are distinguished by their significant population increases during the summers, a large number of retail shops and restaurants and extensive arts community. Residential real estate prices in the Hamptons rank among the highest in the nation. In particular, Sagaponack, Water Mill and Bridgehampton were cited by ''Business Week'' magazine as being the 1st, 6th and 8th most expensive zip codes in the nation, respectively (see their articles).

Other amenities in the area include Sebonack Golf Club, the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, National Golf Links of America in Southampton and the Maidstone Club in East Hampton. The Shinnecock and National golf clubs were recently voted as the #3 and #10 ranked courses in America by Golf Digest magazine. Exclusive private clubs provide additional recreational resources to the very affluent in the area. These clubs include The Bathing Corporation of Southampton, the Southampton Bath and Tennis Club, and the Meadow Club in Southampton Village and the Maidstone Club in East Hampton.

In Popular Culture

The Hamptons feature in ''Inside Job'', a 2010 documentary film about the financial crisis of 2007–2010 directed by Charles H. Ferguson. The Hamptons is shown as hub for Wall Street traders and investment bankers. The film covers a bird's eye view of the beaches and homes in the area. Derek Shepherd and Addison Montgomery of the medical drama Grey's Anatomy are known to have once owned property in The Hamptons. The Hamptons are also depicted in the T.V. Series ''Royal Pains'', as well as being mentioned as the home of Declan and Fiona's aunt Kate in Degrassi Takes Manhattan. In Josh Schwartz's ''Gossip Girl'', The Hamptons are mentioned on numerous occasions in the first two episodes of season two. Many of the characters in the show reside or vacation in The Hamptons during the summer. The TV show Castle also makes several references to The Hamptons as a favorite vacation spot for the famous character Rick Castle. The Hamptons was also featured as the location for the film White Chicks. George Costanza claimed to have a home in The Hamptons in Seinfeld, but it wasn't true. He kept the lie going to the bitter end.

External links

Town of East Hampton official website.

Town of Southampton official website.

"Real Estate 101 in the Hamptons", ''New York Times''.

"Studios by the Sea", ''Vanity Fair'', August 2000.

"The Most Expensive Golf Courses in the Country", ''Forbes'' magazine.

“Ruffling A Few Feathers In One Of America’s Most Exclusive Retreats, The Hamptons” Tayfun King, ''Fast Track'', BBC World News (2008-08-01)

References

Category:Visitor attractions on Long Island Category:Geography of Long Island Category:Visitor attractions in Suffolk County, New York

ca:The Hamptons de:Hamptons es:Los Hamptons fr:Les Hamptons it:Hamptons nl:The Hamptons pt:Hamptons ro:Hamptons

birth name	Arthur Betz Laffer
school tradition	Supply-side economics
color	lightsteelblue
birth date	August 14, 1940
birth place	Youngstown, Ohio
nationality	American
field	Political economics
alma mater	Stanford (PhD, 1971; MBA, 1965)Yale (BA, 1962)
influences	John Maynard Keynes
contributions	Laffer Curve
signature
repec prefix	| repec_id }}

Arthur Betz Laffer (; born August 14, 1940) is an American economist who first gained prominence during the Reagan administration as a member of Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board (1981–1989). Laffer is best known for the Laffer curve, an illustration of the theory that there exists some tax rate between 0% and 100% that will result in maximum tax revenue for governments. He is the author and co-author of many books and newspaper articles, including ''Supply Side Economics: Financial Decision-Making for the 80s''. Laffer is Policy Co-Chairman (with Lawrence "Larry" Kudlow) of the Free Enterprise Fund.

Life and career

Laffer was born in Youngstown, Ohio, the son of Marian Amelia "Molly" (née Betz), a homemaker and politician, and William Gillespie Laffer, a president of the Clevite Corporation. Laffer received a BA degree in economics from Yale University in 1962. He graduated from Stanford University with an MBA in 1965 and a PhD degree in economics in 1971.

Laffer was a tenured professor at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business at the time of his discussion of the Laffer Curve with Nixon/Ford administration officials. Later on, after leaving University of Chicago and during his tenure at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, Laffer played a key role in the writing of Proposition 13, the California property tax cap initiative that inspired similar initiatives in other states.

During the mid-1980s, Laffer left to teach at Pepperdine University in nearby Malibu. Laffer remained on the faculty for several years.

In 1986, Laffer was a Republican primary candidate for the US Senate in California. (Congressman Ed Zschau won the nomination and lost in the general election to the incumbent Democrat, Alan Cranston). Laffer identifies himself as a staunch fiscal conservative and libertarian. He has stated publicly that he voted for President Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. Laffer references President Clinton's conservative fiscal policies as cornerstones of his support.

He was named a Distinguished University Professor of Economics by Mercer University (Georgia) in 2008.

Professional activities

Laffer is the founder and CEO of Laffer Associates in Nashville, Tennessee, an economic research and consulting firm that provides global investment-research services to institutional asset managers, pension funds, financial institutions, and corporations.

He sits on the board of directors of several public and private companies. Laffer has been appointed to the advisory board of Sonenshine Partners, an independent investment bank focused on providing integrated strategic, financial and corporate advisory services. In 2004 Laffer joined the Board of Pillar Data Systems, a non-public Data Storage Company funded by Tako Ventures, a funding arm of Larry Ellison. In 2008, Laffer joined the Board of Alpha Theory, a non-public Fundamental Portfolio Optimization software for hedge and mutual funds.

In 2010, Laffer joined the Boards of Executive Trading Solutions, an LLC providing the top technological solution for management of Rule 10b51 stock trading plans, and Consensus Point, a provider of an enterprise prediction markets platform.

Laffer Curve

Although he does not claim to have invented the Laffer curve concept (Laffer, 2004), it was popularized with policy-makers following an afternoon meeting with Nixon/Ford Administration officials Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld in 1974 in which he reportedly sketched the curve on a napkin to illustrate his argument. The term "Laffer curve" was coined by Jude Wanniski, who was also present. The basic concept was not new; Laffer himself says he learned it from Ibn Khaldun and John Maynard Keynes.

A simplified view of the theory is that tax revenues would be zero if tax rates were either 0% or 100%, and somewhere in between 0% and 100% is a tax rate which maximizes total revenue. Laffer's postulate was that the tax rate that maximizes revenue was at a much lower level than previously believed: so low that current tax rates were above the level where revenue is maximized.

Publications

The following is a partial list of publications for which Arthur B. Laffer is an author (mainly focusing on articles for which he is first author), in descending order by date.

Arthur B. Laffer, "The U.S. Balance of Payments—A Financial Center View," ''Law and Contemporary Problems'' 34 (1), p. 33-46 (1969).

Arthur B. Laffer, "Vertical Integration by Corporations, 1929-1965," ''Review of Economics and Statistics'' 51 (1), p. 91-93 (1969).

Arthur B. Laffer, "Trade Credit and the Money Market," ''J. Political Economy'' 78 (2), 239-267 (1970).

Arthur B. Laffer and Eugene F. Fama, "Information and Capital Markets" ''J. Business'' 44 (3), p. 289-298 (1971).

Arthur B. Laffer and R. David Ranson, "A Formal Model of the Economy," ''J. Business'' 44 (3), p. 247-270 (1971).

Arthur B. Laffer and Eugene F. Fama, "The Number of Firms and Competition", ''American Economic Review'' ''62'' (4), p. 670-674 (1972).

Arthur B. Laffer, "Monetary Policy and the Balance of Payments," ''J. Money, Credit, and Banking Part I'' 4 (1), 13-22 (1972).

Arthur B. Laffer and Richard Zecher, "Some Evidence on the Formation, Efficiency and Accuracy of Anticipations of Nominal Yields," ''J. Monetary Economics'' 1 (3), p. 327-342 (1975).

Victor A. Canto, Douglas H. Joines, and Arthur B. Laffer, ''Foundations of Supply-Side Economics—Theory and Evidence'' (New York: Academic Press, 1982).

Arthur B. Laffer, "Reinstatement of the Dollar: The Blueprint," ''Economic Notes'' 0 (2), p. 158-176 (1982).

Arthur B. Laffer, "A High Road for the American Automobile Industry," ''World Economy'' 8 (3), p. 267-286 (1985).

Arthur B. Laffer, "The Ellipse: An Explication of the ''Laffer'' Curve in a Two-Factor Model," ''The Financial Analyst's Guide to Fiscal Policy'', p. 1-35 (New York: Greenwood Press, 1986).

Arthur B. Laffer, "Heightened foreign competition only route for American prosperity," ''The Journal Record'' (9 June 1987).

Arthur B. Laffer, "America in the World Economy: A Strategy for the 1990s: Commentary," ''America's Global Interests: A New Agenda'', p. 122-125 (London: Norton, 1989).

Arthur B. Laffer and Christopher S. Hammond, "Either California's Housing Prices Are Going to Fall or California's in for One Helluva Rise in Personal Income," ''Investment Strategy and State and Local Economic Policy'', p. 49-64 (London: Quorum Books, 1992).

Arthur B. Laffer, "Trading Policy Outlook," ''Industrial Policy and International Trade'', p. 175-186, Volume 62 in ''Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis'' (London: JAI Press, 1992).

Arthur B. Laffer, "The Reagan-Clinton Presidency," ''International Economy'' 12 (2), 22-24 (1998).

Arthur B. Laffer and Thomas J. Martin, "Bullish on Japan," ''American Spectator'' p. 28-30 (1 June 2001).

Arthur B. Laffer, "The Laffer Curve: Past, Present, and Future," ''Heritage Foundation Backgrounder'' #1765 (1 June 2004).

Arthur B. Laffer, "The Tax Threat to Prosperity", ''Wall Street Journal'' (January 25, 2008).

Arthur B. Laffer, "The Age of Prosperity Is Over", ''Wall Street Journal'' (October 27, 2008).

Arthur B. Laffer and Stephen Moore, "Soak the Rich, Lose the Rich", ''Wall Street Journal'' (May 19, 2009).

Arthur B. Laffer, "Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest Rates", ''Wall Street Journal'' (June 11, 2009)

Arthur B. Laffer, "The Prognosis for National Health Insurance: A Colorado Perspective, ''Independence Institute'' (August 2009)

Arthur B. Laffer, "Taxes, Depression, and Our Current Troubles", ''Wall Street Journal'' (September 22, 2009)

References

External links

Jude Wanniski, "Sketching the Laffer Curve," ''The Yorktown Patriot'' (14 June 2005)

Category:1940 births Category:American economists Category:Living people Category:People from Youngstown, Ohio Category:Stanford University alumni Category:Supply-side economists Category:University of Southern California faculty Category:Yale University alumni

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name	Slide Hampton(TM)
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
birth name	Locksley Wellington Hampton
birth date	April 21, 1932
origin	Jeannette, Pennsylvania, United States
instrument	Trombone, Flugelhorn
genre	Jazz, Hard bop
occupation	Musician, Bandleader, Composer, Arranger, Educator, Trombonist
years active	1950s–present
label	MCG Jazz, Atlantic, Epic
associated acts	Slide Hampton Ultra Big Band, Slide Hampton World of Trombones, Slide Hampton Trombone All-Stars
website	www.SlideHampton.com
notable instruments	}}

Locksley Wellington "Slide" Hampton (born April 21, 1932) is an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.

He was a 1998 Grammy Award winner for "Best Jazz Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)", as arranger for "Cotton Tail" performed by Dee Dee Bridgewater. He was also a Grammy winner in 2005 for "Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album," ''The Way: Music of Slide Hampton'', The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and received another nomination in 2006 for his arrangement of "Stardust" for the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band.

In 2005, the National Endowment for the Arts honored Slide Hampton with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award. A master composer/arranger and uniquely gifted trombone player, Hampton's career is among the most distinguished in jazz.

Biography

Slide Hampton was born in Jeannette, Pennsylvania. Laura and Clarke “Deacon” Hampton raised 12 children, taught them how to play musical instruments and set out with them as a family band. The family first came to Indianapolis in 1938. The Hamptons were a very musical family in which mother, father, eight brothers, and four sisters all played instruments. Slide Hampton is one of the few left-handed trombone players. Although not naturally left-handed, as a child Hampton was given the trombone set up to play left-handed, or backwards; as no one ever dissuaded him, he continued to play this way.

At the age of 12, Slide played in his family's Indianapolis jazz band, The Duke Hampton Band. By 1952, at the age of 20, he was performing at Carnegie Hall with the Lionel Hampton Band. He played with the Buddy Johnson's R&B; band from 1955–1956, then became a member of the Maynard Ferguson's band (1957–1959), where he played and arranged, providing excitement on such popular tunes as "The Fugue," "Three Little Foxes" and "Slides Derangement." In 1958, he recorded with trombone masters on the classic release of Melba Liston, "Melba Liston and Her 'Bones". As his reputation grew, he soon began working with bands led by Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron in 1969, Barry Harris, Thad Jones, Mel Lewis, and Max Roach, contributing both original compositions and arrangements. In 1962, he formed the Slide Hampton Octet, with horn players Booker Little, Freddie Hubbard, and George Coleman. The band toured the U.S. and Europe and recorded on several labels.

In 1968 he toured with Woody Herman orchestra, settling in Europe where he remained until 1977. He taught at Harvard, artist-in-residence in 1981, the University of Massachusetts, De Paul University in Chicago, and Indiana State University. During this period he led his own nine-trombone, three-rhythm band, ''World of Trombones'', co-led Continuum (a quintet with Jimmy Heath that plays the music of Tadd Dameron), freelanced as both a writer and a player--. He also appeared on The Cosby Show 1986. The episode entitled "Play It Again, Russell", is a reference to "Play it again, Sam", a quote from Casablanca (1942). Hampton also played the trombone in ''Diana Ross Live! The Lady Sings... Jazz & Blues: Stolen Moments'' (1992) DVD.

In 2005 Hampton was honored at the jazz festival in Indianapolis. There the Indianapolis Jazz Foundation inducted him into their Hall of Fame. On June 4, 2006, with manager/agent and business partner Tony Charles, Hampton promoted his first concert at The Tribecca PAC in New York (a tribute to Antonio Carlos Jobim) and debuted the Hampton Ultra Big Band. The concert was the first of many planned for the near future.

Hampton is a resident of North New Jersey. He is the uncle of Chicago jazz trumpeter Pharez Whitted.

2009 saw the completion of four new compositions entitled "A Tribute to African-American Greatness". The songs honored Nelson Mandela, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Venus Williams, Serena Williams and Barack Obama. The songs contained accompanying lyrics written by Hampton and his song writing partner Tony Charles, arrangements honoring Thelonious Monk, Thad Jones, Eddie Harris, Dexter Gordon and Gil Evans round out the program. The album will be recorded in 2010. He recently completed two new Big Band arrangements - "In Case of Emergency" and "The Drum Song" (both Hampton originals). These two songs (and others) will be available exclusively to Universities and other educational institutions through Slide Hampton Musique Publishing.

Discography

!Year	!Title	!Label
2003	''Spirit of the Horn''	MCG Jazz
2002	''Jazz Matinee''	Hanssler
2002	''Slide Plays Jobim''
1999	''Inclusion''	Sound Hills
1993	''Dedicated to Diz''	Telarc
1982	''Roots''	Criss Cross
1979	''World of Trombones''	West 54 Records
1962	''Explosion! The Sound of Slide Hampton''	Atlantic
1962	''Jazz in Paris: Exodus''	Verve Records
1962	''Drum Suite''	Epic
1961	''Two Sides of Slide Hampton''	Charlie Parker
1960	''Sister Salvation''	Atlantic
1959	''Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty''	Strand

References

External links

Slide Hampton's Website

'International Management & Booking for Mr. Hampton

Slide Hampton discography at JazzDiscography.com

Slide Hampton at The Trombone Page of the World

Trombone.org: Slide Hampton

Category:1932 births Category:Living people Category:American jazz trombonists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:People from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Category:People from East Orange, New Jersey Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Verve Records artists Category:Criss Cross Jazz artists Category:Telarc Records artists

da:Slide Hampton de:Slide Hampton es:Slide Hampton it:Slide Hampton fi:Slide Hampton

Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	John Birks Gillespie
Born	October 21, 1917Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	January 06, 1993Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Instrument	Trumpet, piano, trombone
Genre	BebopAfro-Cuban jazz
Occupation	Trumpeter, bandleader, singer, composer
Years active	1935–1993
Associated acts	Charlie ParkerCab CallowayBud Powell
Label	Pablo Records, Verve Records, Savoy Records, RCA Victor Records, Milan Records, Douglas Records }}

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".

Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Jon Faddis and Chuck Mangione.

Allmusic's Scott Yanow wrote that "Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time (some would say the best), Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up copying Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated . . . Arguably Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time."

In addition to featuring in the epochal moments in bebop, he was instrumental in founding Afro-Cuban jazz, the modern jazz version of what early-jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton referred to as the "Spanish Tinge". Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and gifted improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unknown in jazz. Dizzy's beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizing bebop.

Biography

Early life and career

He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children born to James and Lottie Gillespie. James was a local bandleader, so instruments were made available to Dizzy. He started to play the piano at the age of four. Dizzy's father died when the boy was only ten years old. Dizzy taught himself how to play the trombone as well as the trumpet by the age of twelve. From the night he heard his idol, Roy Eldridge, play on the radio, he dreamed of becoming a jazz musician. He received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, North Carolina He attended for two years before accompanying his family when they moved to Philadelphia.

Dizzy's first professional job was with the Frank Fairfax Orchestra in 1935, after which he joined the respective orchestras of Edgar Hayes and Teddy Hill, essentially replacing Roy Eldridge as first trumpet in 1937. Teddy Hill’s band was where Dizzy Gillespie made his first recording, ''King Porter Stomp''. At this time Dizzy met a young woman named Lorraine from the Apollo Theatre, whom he married in 1940. They remained married until his death in 1993. Dizzy stayed with Teddy Hill’s band for a year, then left and free-lanced with numerous other bands. In 1939, Dizzy joined Cab Calloway's orchestra, with which he recorded one of his earliest compositions, the instrumental ''Pickin' the Cabbage'', in 1940. (Originally released on ''Paradiddle'', a 78rpm backed with a co-composition with Cozy Cole, Calloway's drummer at the time, on the Vocalion label, #5467).

Dizzy was fired by Calloway in late 1941, after a notorious altercation between the two. The incident is recounted by Dizzy, along with fellow Calloway band members Milt Hinton and Jonah Jones, in Jean Bach's 1997 film, The Spitball Story. Calloway did not approve of Dizzy's mischievous humor, nor of his adventuresome approach to soloing; according to Jones, Calloway referred to it as “Chinese music.” During one performance, Calloway saw a spitball land on the stage, and accused Dizzy of having thrown it. Dizzy denied it, and the ensuing argument led to Calloway striking Dizzy, who then pulled out a switchblade knife and charged Calloway. The two were separated by other band members, during which scuffle Calloway was cut on the hand.

During his time in Calloway's band, Dizzy Gillespie started writing big band music for bandleaders like Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey. He then freelanced with a few bands - most notably Ella Fitzgerald's orchestra, composed of members of the late Chick Webb's band, in 1942.

In 1943, Dizzy joined the Earl Hines orchestra. The legendary big band of Billy Eckstine gave his unusual harmonies a better setting and it was as a member of Eckstine's band that he was reunited with Parker, a fellow member of Hines's more conventional band. In 1945, Dizzy left Eckstine's band because he wanted to play with a small combo. A "small combo" typically comprised no more than five musicians, playing the trumpet, saxophone, piano, bass and drums.He was a world renowned figure and was a major influence on modern day jazz.

The rise of bebop

Bebop was known as the first modern jazz style. However, it was unpopular in the beginning and was not viewed as positively as swing music was. Bebop was seen as an outgrowth of swing, not a revolution. Swing introduced a diversity of new musicians in the bebop era like Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, and Gillespie. Through these musicians, a new vocabulary of musical phrases was created. With Charlie Parker, Gillespie jammed at famous jazz clubs like Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House, where the first seeds of bebop were planted. Charlie Parker's system also held methods of adding chords to existing chord progressions and implying additional chords within the improvised lines.

Gillespie compositions like "Groovin' High", "Woody n' You" and "Salt Peanuts" sounded radically different, harmonically and rhythmically, from the swing music popular at the time. "A Night in Tunisia", written in 1942, while Gillespie was playing with Earl Hines' band, is noted for having a feature that is common in today's music, a non-walking bass line. The song also displays Afro-Cuban rhythms. One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was only issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Gillespie taught many of the young musicians on 52nd Street, including Miles Davis and Max Roach about the new style of jazz. After a lengthy gig at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles, which left most of the audience ambivalent or hostile towards the new music, the band broke up. Unlike Parker, who was content to play in small groups and be an occasional featured soloist in big bands, Gillespie aimed to lead a big band himself; his first, unsuccessful, attempt to do this was in 1945.

After his work with Parker, Gillespie led other small combos (including ones with Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Lalo Schifrin, Ray Brown, Kenny Clarke, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, and Yusef Lateef) and finally put together his first successful big band. Dizzy Gillespie and his band tried to popularize bop and make Dizzy Gillespie a symbol of the new music. He also appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. He also headlined the 1946 independently-produced musical revue film ''Jivin' in Be-Bop''.

In 1948 Dizzy was involved in a traffic accident when the bicycle he was riding was bumped by an automobile. He was slightly injured, and found that he could no longer hit the B-flat above high C. He won the case, but the jury awarded him only $1000, in view of his high earnings up to that point.

In 1956 he organized a band to go on a State Department tour of the Middle East and earned the nickname "the Ambassador of Jazz". During this time, he also continued to lead a big band that performed throughout the United States and featured musicians including Pee Wee Moore and others. This band recorded a live album at the 1957 Newport jazz festival that featured Mary Lou Williams as a guest artist on piano.

Afro-Cuban music

In the late 1940s, Gillespie was also involved in the movement called Afro-Cuban music, bringing Afro-Latin American music and elements to greater prominence in jazz and even pop music, particularly salsa. Afro-Cuban jazz is based on traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms. Dizzy Gillespie was introduced to Chano Pozo in 1947 by Mario Bauza, a Latin jazz trumpet player. Chano Pozo became Gillespie's conga drummer for his band. Dizzy Gilespie also worked with Mario Bauza in New York jazz clubs on 52nd street and several famous dance clubs such as Palladium and the Apollo Theater in Harlem. They played together in the Chick Webb band and Cab Calloway's band, where Gillespie and Bauza became life-long friends. Dizzy helped develop and mature the Afro-Cuban jazz style.

Afro-Cuban jazz was considered bebop-oriented, and some musicians classified it as a modern style. Afro-Cuban jazz was successful because it never decreased in popularity and it always attracted people to dance to its unique rhythms. Gillespie's most famous contributions to Afro-Cuban music are the compositions "Manteca" and "Tin Tin Deo" (both co-written with Chano Pozo); he was responsible for commissioning George Russell's "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop", which featured the great but ill-fated Cuban conga player, Chano Pozo. In 1977, Gillespie discovered Arturo Sandoval while researching music during a tour of Cuba.

Later years

His biographer Alyn Shipton quotes Don Waterhouse approvingly that Dizzy in the fifties "had begun to mellow into an amalgam of his entire jazz experience to form the basis of new classicism". Another opinion is that, unlike his contemporary Miles Davis, Gillespie essentially remained true to the bebop style for the rest of his career.

In 1960, he was inducted into the ''Down Beat'' magazine's Jazz Hall of Fame.

During the 1964 United States presidential campaign the artist, with tongue in cheek, put himself forward as an independent write-in candidate. He promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed "The Blues House," and a cabinet composed of Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis, (Director of the CIA), Max Roach (Secretary of Defense), Charles Mingus (Secretary of Peace), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), Louis Armstrong (Secretary of Agriculture), Mary Lou Williams (Ambassador to the Vatican), Thelonious Monk (Travelling Ambassador) and Malcolm X (Attorney General). He said his running mate would be Phyllis Diller. Campaign buttons had been manufactured years ago by Gillespie's booking agency "for publicity, as a gag", but now proceeds from them went to benefit the Congress of Racial Equality, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr.; in later years they became a collector's item. In 1971 Gillespie announced he would run again but withdrew before the election for reasons connected to the Baha'i faith.

Gillespie published his autobiography, ''To Be or Not to Bop'', in 1979.

Gillespie was a vocal fixture in many of John Hubley and Faith Hubley's animated films, such as ''The Hole'', ''The Hat'', and ''Voyage to Next''.

In the 1980s, Dizzy Gillespie led the United Nation Orchestra. For three years Flora Purim toured with the Orchestra and she credits Gillespie with evolving her understanding of jazz after being in the field for over two decades. David Sánchez also toured with the group and was also greatly influenced by Gillespie. Both artists later were nominated for Grammy awards. Gillespie also had a guest appearance on ''The Cosby Show'' as well as ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show''.

In 1982, Dizzy Gillespie had a cameo appearance on Stevie Wonder's hit "Do I Do". Gillespie's tone gradually faded in the last years in life, and his performances often focused more on his proteges such as Arturo Sandoval and Jon Faddis; his good-humoured comedic routines became more and more a part of his live act.

In 1988, Gillespie had worked with Canadian flautist and saxophonist Moe Koffman on their prestigious album ''Oo Pop a Da.'' He did fast scat vocals on the title track and a couple of the other tracks were played only on trumpet.

In 1989 Gillespie gave 300 performances in 27 countries, appeared in 100 U.S. cities in 31 states and the District of Columbia, headlined three television specials, performed with two symphonies, and recorded four albums. He was also crowned a traditional chief in Nigeria, received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; France's most prestigious cultural award. He was named Regent Professor by the University of California, and received his fourteenth honorary doctoral degree, this one from the Berklee College of Music. In addition, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the same year. The next year, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ceremonies celebrating the centennial of American jazz, Gillespie received the Kennedy Center Honors Award and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers ''Duke Ellington Award'' for 50 years of achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader. In 1993 he received the Polar Music Prize in Sweden.

November 26, 1992 at Carnegie Hall in New York, following the Second Bahá'í World Congress was Dizzy's 75th birthday concert and his offering to the celebration of the centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh. Gillespie was to appear at Carnegie Hall for the 33rd time. The line-up included: Jon Faddis, Marvin "Doc" Holladay, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. But Gillespie didn't make it because he was in bed suffering from cancer of the pancreas. "But the musicians played their real hearts out for him, no doubt suspecting that he would not play again. Each musician gave tribute to their friend, this great soul and innovator in the world of jazz."

Gillespie also starred in a film called ''The Winter in Lisbon'' released in 2004. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood section of the City of Los Angeles. He is honored by the December 31, 2006 - A Jazz New Year's Eve: Freddy Cole & the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Death and legacy

A longtime resident of Englewood, NJ, he died of pancreatic cancer January 6, 1993, aged 75, and was buried in the Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York. Mike Longo delivered a eulogy at his funeral. He was also with Gillespie on the night he died, along with Jon Faddis and a select few others.

At the time of his death, Dizzy Gillespie was survived by his widow, Lorraine Willis Gillespie; a daughter, jazz singer Jeanie Bryson; and a grandson, Radji Birks Bryson-Barrett. Gillespie had two funerals. One was a Bahá'í funeral at his request, at which his closest friends and colleagues attended. The second was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York open to the public.

Dizzy Gillespie, a Bahá'í since 1970, was one of the most famous adherents of the Bahá'í Faith which helped him make sense of his position in a succession of trumpeters as well as turning his life from knife-carrying roughneck to global citizen, and from alcohol to ''soul force'', in the words of author Nat Hentoff, who knew Gillespie for forty years. He spoke about the Baha'i Faith frequently on his trips abroad. He is often called the ''Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador''. He is honored with weekly jazz sessions at the New York Bahá'í Center.

Style

Gillespie has been described as the "Sound of Surprise". ''The Rough Guide to Jazz'' describes his musical style:

In Dizzy's obituary, Peter Watrous describes his performance style:

Wynton Marsalis summed up Gillespie as a player and teacher:

"Bent" trumpet

Gillespie's trademark trumpet featured a bell which bent upward at a 45-degree angle rather than pointing straight ahead as in the conventional design. In honor of this trademark, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has collected Gillespie's B-flat trumpet. According to Gillespie's autobiography, this was originally the result of accidental damage caused by someone sitting on it during a job on January 6, 1953, but the constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect. Gillespie's biographer Alyn Shipton writes that Gillespie likely got the idea when he saw a similar instrument in 1937 in Manchester, England while on tour with the Teddy Hill Orchestra. An English trumpeter was using such an instrument because his vision was poor and the horn made reading music easier. According to this account (from British journalist Pat Brand) Gillespie was able to try out the horn and the experience led him, much later, to commission a similar horn for himself.

Whatever the origins of Gillespie's upswept trumpet, by June, 1954, Gillespie was using a professionally manufactured horn of this design, and it was to become a visual trademark for him for the rest of his life.

Discography

1937-49 ''The Complete RCA Victor Recordings''

1941: ''The Immortal Charlie Christian'' (with Christian, Thelonious Monk, Delta Music re-released on Laserlight cassette)

1950: ''Bird & Diz''

1952: ''Dee Gee Days - The Savoy Sessions''

1953: ''Jazz at Massey Hall''

1953: ''Diz & Getz'' (with Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Max Roach, Herb Ellis)

1954: ''Afro''

1956: ''Modern Jazz Sextet''

1957: ''Sittin' In'' (with Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins)

1957: ''Dizzy Gillespie at Newport''

1957: ''Sonny Side Up'' (with Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt)

1957: ''Dizzy in Greece''

1958: ''Birks' Works'' (Dizzy Gillespie Big Band)

1959: ''Have Trumpet, Will Excite!''

1959: ''The Ebullient Mr. Gillespie''

1960: ''A Portrait of Duke Ellington''

1960/1961: ''Gillespiana/Carnegie Hall Conert'' (Verve Records)

1961: ''An Electrifying Evening with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet''

1961: ''Perceptions'' (Verve Records) (written by J.J. Johnson, conducted by Gunther Schuller)

1962: ''Dizzy on the French Riviera'' (Philips Records)

1963: ''New Wave'' (Philips Records) (with Lalo Schifrin, Bola Sete)

1963: ''Something Old, Something New''

1963: ''Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris''

1964: ''Jambo Caribe'' (Limelight Records)

1965: ''The New Continent'' (Limelight)

1964: ''The Melody Lingers On'' (Limelight)

1967: ''Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac'' (Impulse!)

1968: ''Live at the Village Vanguard'' (produced by Sonny Lester

1968: ''Reunion Big Band In Berlin'' (MPS Records)

1969: ''Strictly Bebop'' (with Babs Gonzalez, Tad Dameron, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane), rec. 1949 EMI Capitol

1969: ''Real Thing'' (Perception Records)

1970: ''Portrait of Jenny'' (Perception)

1971: ''Giants'' (Perception, with Bobby Hackett)

1971: ''Dizzy Gillespie and the Mitchell Ruff Duo In Concert'' (Mainstream Records)

1974: ''Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie''

1975: ''Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods'' (with Machito, Chico O'Farrill, Mario Bauza)

1975: ''Jazz Maturity...Where It's Coming From''

1975: ''Oscar Peterson and The Trumpet Kings - Jousts''

1975: ''The Trumpet Kings at Montreux '75''

1976: ''Dizzy's Party''

1977: ''The Gifted Ones'' (with Count Basie)

1977: ''Free Ride''

1981: ''Digital at Montreux, 1980'' (Toots Thielemans, Bernard Purdie)

1985: ''New Faces'' (with Robert Ameen, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Lonnie Plaxico, Charlie Christian)

1988: ''Oop Pop a Da'' (with Moe Koffman)

1989: ''Live at the Royal Festival Hall London July 10, 1989''

1989: ''The Symphony Sessions'' (with Ron Holloway, Ed Cherry, John Lee, Ignacio Berroa)

1990: ''The Winter in Lisbon''

1990: ''Rhythmstick'' (CTI Records)

1991: ''Live! at Blues Alley'' (with Ron Holloway, Ed Cherry, John Lee, Ignacio Berroa)

1992: ''Groovin' High''

1992: ''To Bird With Love''

1995: ''In Paris v.2'' Vogue RCA 1995

2000: ''Dizzy For President'' Douglas Records

Filmography

1983 ''Jazz in America'' (Embassy)

1986 ''In Redondo Beach/Jazz In America'' ( Embassy)

1991 ''Dizzy Gillespie: A Night in Tunisia'' (VIEW)

1993 ''Live in London'' (Kultur Video)

1998 ''Dizzy Gillespie & Charles Mingus'' (Vidjazz)

1998 ''Dizzy Gillespie: Ages'' (Vidjazz)

1999 ''Jazz Casual: Dizzy Gillespie'' (Rhino)

2001 ''Jivin'in Be-Bop'' (Jazz Classic Video)

2001 ''Dizzy Gillespie: A Night in Chicago'' (VIEW)

2001 ''Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1987'' (Pioneer)

2002 ''Live in Montreal'' (Image)

2003 ''20th Century Jazz Masters''

2003 ''Swing Era (with Mel Torme)'' (Idem)

2005 ''Norman Granz Jazz in Montreux: Presents Dizzy Gillespie Sextet '77'' (Eagle Vision USA)

2005 ''Summer Jazz Live at New Jersey 1987'' (FS World Jazz / Alpha Centauri Entertainment)

2005 ''A Night in Havana: Dizzy Gillespie in Cuba'' (New Video Group)

2006 ''Jazz Icons: Live in '58 & '70'' (Universal)

2008 ''London Concerts 1965 & 1966'' (Impro-Jazz Spain)

Bibliography

''To Be, or Not...to Bop''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

References

External links

The Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars

Dizzy Gillespie's "The Cult of Bebop"

Dizzy Gillespie Talking to Les Tomkins in 1973

Dizzy Gillespie Mulitmedia Directory - Kerouac Alley

Dizzy Gillespie Concerts & Interviews on NPR Music

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: ''This article is about Fred Hampton, Sr. For his son, see Fred Hampton, Jr.'' Fred Hampton (August 30, 1948 – December 4, 1969) was an African-American activist and deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP). He was assassinated as he lay in bed in his apartment by a tactical unit of the Cook County, Illinois State's Attorney's Office (SAO), in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Hampton's death was chronicled in the 1971 documentary film ''The Murder of Fred Hampton,'' as well as an episode of the critically acclaimed documentary series ''Eyes on the Prize''.

Youth

Hampton was born on August 30, 1948, in Chicago, Illinois and grew up in Maywood, a suburb to the west of the city. His parents had moved north from Louisiana, and both worked at the Argo Starch Company. As a youth, Hampton was gifted both in the classroom and on the athletic field, having a strong desire to play center field for the New York Yankees, and graduating from Proviso East High School with honors in 1966.

Following his graduation Hampton enrolled at Triton Junior College in nearby River Grove, Illinois, majoring in pre-law. He studied law to become more familiar with the law, using it as a defense against police. He and fellow Black Panthers would follow police, watching out for police brutality using this knowledge of law as a defense. 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 abilities; from a community of 27,000, he was able to muster a youth group 500-members strong. He worked to get more and better recreational facilities established in the neighborhoods, and to improve educational resources for Maywood's impoverished black community. Through his involvement with the NAACP, Hampton hoped to achieve social change through nonviolent activism and community organizing.

Chicago

About the same time that Hampton was successfully organizing young African Americans for the NAACP, the Black Panther Party (BPP) started rising to national prominence. Hampton was quickly attracted to the Black Panthers' approach, which was based on a ten-point program of a mix of black self-determination and certain elements of Maoism. Hampton joined the Party and relocated to downtown Chicago, and in November 1968 he joined the Party's nascent Illinois chapter — founded by Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizer Bob Brown in late 1967.

Over the next year, Hampton and his associates made 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. Emphasizing that racial and ethnic conflict between gangs would only keep its members entrenched in poverty, Hampton strove to forge a class-conscious, multi-racial alliance between the BPP,the Young Patriots Organization and the National Young Lords under the leadership of Jose Cha Cha Jimenez. Later they were joined by the Students for a Democratic Society, the Blackstone Rangers, the Brown Berets and the Red Guard Party. In May 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, who eventually appropriated the name in forming his own unrelated coalition, Rainbow PUSH.

Hampton's organizing skills, substantial oratorical gifts, and personal charisma allowed him to rise quickly in the Black Panthers. Once he became leader of the Chicago chapter, he organized weekly rallies, worked closely with the BPP's local People's Clinic, taught political education classes every morning at 6am, and launched a project for community supervision of the police. Hampton was also instrumental in the BPP's Free Breakfast Program. When Brown left the Party with Stokely Carmichael in the FBI-fomented SNCC/Panther split, Hampton assumed chairmanship of the Illinois state BPP, automatically making him a national BPP deputy chairman. As the Panther leadership across the country began to be decimated by the impact of the FBI's COINTELPRO, Hampton's prominence in the national hierarchy increased rapidly and dramatically. Eventually, Hampton was in line to be appointed to the Party's Central Committee's Chief of Staff. He would have achieved this position had it not been for his death on the morning of December 4, 1969.

FBI investigation

While Hampton impressed many of the people with whom he came into contact as an effective leader and talented communicator, those very qualities marked him as a major threat in the eyes of the FBI. It began keeping close tabs on his activities. 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 radical coalitions like that forged by Hampton in Chicago, as a frightening stepping stone toward the creation of just such a revolutionary body that could, in its strength, potentially overthrow the government of the United States.

The FBI opened a file on Hampton in 1967 that over the next two years expanded to twelve volumes and over four thousand pages. A wire tap was placed on Hampton's mother's phone in February 1968. By May of that year, Hampton's name was placed on the "Agitator Index" and he would be designated a "key militant leader for Bureau reporting purposes."

In late 1968, the Racial Matters squad of the FBI's Chicago field office brought in an individual named William O'Neal, who had recently been arrested twice, for interstate car theft and impersonating a federal officer. In exchange for dropping the felony charges and a monthly stipend, O'Neal apparently agreed to infiltrate the BPP as a counterintelligence operative. He joined the Party and quickly rose in the organization, becoming Director of Chapter security and Hampton's bodyguard.

By means of anonymous letters, the FBI sowed distrust and eventually instigated a split between the Panthers and the Rangers, with O'Neal himself instigating an armed clash between the two on April 2, 1969. The Panthers became effectively isolated from their powerbase in the ghetto, so the FBI went to work to undermine its ties with other radical organizations. O'Neal was instructed to "create a rift" between the Party and SDS, whose Chicago headquarters was only blocks from that of the Panthers. The Bureau released a batch of racist cartoons in the Panthers' name [citation needed], aimed at alienating white activists, and launched a disinformation program to forestall the realization of the "Rainbow Coalition." In repeated directives, J. Edgar Hoover demanded that the COINTELPRO personnel "destroy what the [BPP] stands for" and "eradicate its 'serve the people' programs".

On July 16 there was an armed confrontation between party members and the Chicago Police Department, which left one member mortally wounded and six others arrested on serious charges. On July 31, the CPD raided the Monroe Street office, smashing typewriters, destroying food and medical supplies for the Panther health clinic and breakfast program, setting several small fires, and beating and arresting a number of Panthers for obstruction. A similar raid took place on October 31.

On May 26, 1969, Hampton was successfully prosecuted in a case related to a theft in 1967 of $71 worth of Good Humor Bars in Maywood. He was sentenced to two to five years, but he managed to obtain an appeal bond and was released in August.

In early October, Hampton and his girlfriend, Deborah Johnson (now known as Akua Njeri), pregnant with their first child (Fred Hampton, Jr.), rented a four-and-a-half room apartment on 2337 West Monroe Street to be closer to BPP headquarters. O'Neal reported to his superiors that much of the Panthers' "provocative" stockpile of arms was being stored there. In early November, Hampton traveled to California on a speaking engagement to the UCLA Law Students Association. While there, he met with the remaining BPP national hierarchy, who appointed him to the Party's Central Committee. Shortly thereafter he was to assume the position of Chief of Staff and major spokesman.

Death following Chicago police raid

Fred Hampton was quickly moving up the ranks in the Black Panther Party, and his talent as a political organizer was remarkable.

In 1968 he was on the verge of creating a merger between the BPP and a southside street gang with thousands of members, which would have doubled the size of the national BPP.

In November 1969, Hampton traveled to California, and met with the National BPP leadership at UCLA. It was there that they offered him a position on the Central Committee as the chief of staff, and asked him to serve as the national spokesman for the BPP. While Hampton was out of town two Chicago police officers, John J. Gilhooly and Frank G. Rappaport, were killed in a gun battle with Panthers on the night of November 13. A total of 9 police officers were shot; a 19 year old Panther named Spurgeon Winter Jr. was killed by police and another Panther, Lawrence S. Bell, was charged with murder. In an editorial headlined "No Quarter for Wild Beasts" the ''Chicago Tribune'' urged that Chicago police be given the order to approach all Panther suspects prepared to shoot.

The FBI, determined to prevent any enhancement of the effectiveness of BPP leadership, decided to set up an arms raid on Hampton's Chicago apartment. FBI informant William O'Neal provided them with detailed information of Hampton's apartment, including the location of furniture and the bed in which Hampton and his then-pregnant girlfriend slept. An augmented, fourteen-man team of the SAO — Special Prosecutions Unit — was organized for a pre-dawn raid armed with a warrant for illegal weapons.

On the evening of December 3, Hampton taught a political education course at a local church, which was attended by most members. Afterwards, as was typical, several Panthers retired to the Monroe Street apartment to spend the night, including Hampton and Deborah Johnson, Blair Anderson, Doc Satchell, Harold Bell, Verlina Brewer, Louis Truelock, Brenda Harris, and Mark Clark.

Upon arrival, they were met by O'Neal, who had prepared a late dinner which was eaten by the group around midnight. O'Neal had slipped the powerful barbiturate sleep agent, secobarbitol into a drink that was consumed by Hampton during the dinner in order to sedate Hampton so that he would not awaken during the subsequent raid. O'Neal left at this point, and, at about 1:30 a.m., Hampton fell asleep in mid-sentence talking to his mother on the telephone. Although Hampton was not known to take drugs, Cook County chemist Eleanor Berman would report that she ran two separate tests which each showed a powerful barbiturate had been introduced into Hampton's blood. An FBI chemist would later fail to find similar traces, but no explanation for how Berman's tests could have been flawed was offered and she stood by her findings. The raid was organized by the office of Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan using officers attached to his office. Hanrahan had recently been the subject of a large amount of public criticism by Hampton, who had made speeches about how Hanrahan's talk about a "war on gangs" was really rhetoric used to enable him to carry out a "war on black youth".

At 4:00 a.m., the heavily armed police team arrived at the site, (2337 W. Monroe, Chicago, IL) dividing into two teams, eight for the front of the building and six for the rear. At 4:45, they stormed in the apartment.

Mark Clark, sitting in the front room of the apartment with a shotgun in his lap, was on security duty. He was killed instantly after firing off a single round, which was later determined to be a reflexive reaction in his death convulsions after being shot by the raiding team; this was the only shot the Panthers fired.

Automatic gunfire then converged at the head of the bedroom where Hampton slept, unable to wake up as a result of the barbiturates that the FBI infiltrator had slipped into his drink. He was lying on a mattress in the bedroom with his pregnant girlfriend. Two officers found him wounded in the shoulder, and fellow Black Panther Harold Bell reported that he heard the following exchange:

:"That's Fred Hampton." :"Is he dead?... Bring him out." :"He's barely alive. :"He'll make it."

Two shots were heard, which it was later discovered were fired point blank in Hampton's head. According to Deborah Johnson, one officer then said:

:"He's good and dead now."

Hampton's body was dragged into the doorway of the bedroom and left in a pool of blood. The officers then directed their gunfire towards the remaining Panthers, who were hiding in another bedroom. They were wounded, then beaten and dragged into the street, where they were arrested on charges of aggravated assault and the attempted murder of the officers. They were each held on US$100,000 bail.

Aftermath

At a press conference the next day, the police announced the arrest team had been attacked by the "violent" and "extremely vicious" Panthers and had defended themselves accordingly. In a second press conference on December 8, the assault team was praised for their "remarkable restraint," "bravery," and "professional discipline" in not killing all the Panthers present. Photographic evidence was presented of "bullet holes" allegedly made by shots fired by the Panthers, but this was soon challenged by reporters (although the ''Chicago Tribune'' initially published these photos in support of the police action). An internal investigation was undertaken; the assault team was exonerated of any wrongdoing.

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."

On December 6, members of the Weather Underground destroyed numerous police vehicles in a retaliatory bombing spree at 3600 N. Halsted Street, Chicago.

Four weeks after witnessing Hampton's death at the hands of the police, Deborah Johnson gave birth to Fred Hampton, Jr.

Civil rights activists Roy Wilkins and Ramsey Clark (styled as "The Commission of Inquiry into the Black Panthers and the Police") subsequently alleged that the Chicago police had killed Fred Hampton without justification or provocation and had violated the Panthers’ constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure. "The Commission" further alleged that the Chicago Police Department had imposed a summary punishment on the Panthers.

The federal grand jury did not return any indictment against anyone involved with the planning or execution of the raid. The officers involved in the raid were cleared by a grand jury of any crimes.

The FBI informant, William O'Neal, later committed suicide after admitting his involvement in setting up the raid.

Legacy

The families of Hampton and Clark filed a US$47.7 million civil suit against the city, state, and federal governments. The case went to trial before Federal Judge J. Sam Perry. After more than 18 months of testimony and at the close of the Plaintiff's case, Judge Perry dismissed the case. The Plaintiffs appealed and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed, ordering the case to be retried. More than a decade after the case had been filed, the suit was finally settled for $1.85 Million. The two families each shared in the settlement.

A 27 minute documentary entitled ''Death of a Black Panther: The Fred Hampton Story'' was used as evidence in the civil suit.

In 1990, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution declaring "Fred Hampton Day" in honor of the slain leader.

The Chicago City Council unanimously approved a resolution introduced by former Alderman Madeline Haithcock commemorating Dec. 4, 2004, as "Fred Hampton Day in Chicago." The resolution read in part: "Fred Hampton, who was only 21 years old, made his mark in Chicago history not so much by his death as by the heroic efforts of his life and by his goals of empowering the most oppressed sector of Chicago's Black community, bringing people into political life through participation in their own freedom fighting organization."

A public pool has been named in his honor in his home town of Maywood, Illinois. In 2006, a bust of Hampton was erected outside the Fred Hampton Memorial Pool.

Jeffrey Haas, author and attorney for the plaintiffs in the federal suit ''Hampton v. Hanrahan'', posited that Chicago was worse off without Hampton.

Haas wrote an account of Hampton's death entitled ''The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther''.

Controversy

In March 2006, controversy arose when supporters of Hampton's charity work proposed the naming of a Chicago street in honor of the former Black Panther leader. Chicago's chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police opposed this effort.

References

External links

The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther - video report by ''Democracy Now!''

(A 1971 documentary film directed by Howard Alk)

FBI files on Fred Hampton

''From COINTELPRO to the Shadow Government: As Fred Hampton Jr. Is Released From 9 Years of Prison, a Look Back at the Assassination of Fred Hampton''. 36:48 real audio. Tape: Fred Hampton, Deborah Johnson. Guests: Fred Hampton Jr., Mutulu Olugabala, Rosa Clemente. Interviewer: Amy Goodman. Democracy Now!. Tuesday, March 5, 2002. Retrieved May 12, 2005.

"Power Anywhere Where There's People" A Speech By Fred Hampton

National Young Lords Brief notes on Young Lords origins

Category:1948 births Category:1969 deaths Category:American revolutionaries Category:American socialists Category:Assassinated American civil rights activists Category:Black Panther Party members Category:COINTELPRO targets Category:Deaths by firearm in Illinois Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:People from Maywood, Illinois Category:People shot dead by law enforcement officers in the United States

de:Fred Hampton fr:Fred Hampton ja:フレッド・ハンプトン sv:Fred Hampton yo:Fred Hampton