ABSTRACT
In the early morning hours of December 4, 1969, Cook County State’s Attorney Edward Hanrahan orchestrated a raid at 2337 W. Monroe Street in Chicago. During the melee that ensued, members of the Chicago Police Department (CPD) shot and killed Black Panther Party (BPP) Chairman Fred Hampton and fellow member Mark Clark. Efforts to remember Hampton and celebrate his legacy have met with fierce resistance from the CPD and city officials who have worked to mask the sordid history of the apartment building, and in the process, sanitize narratives surrounding the raid and Hampton’s death. Though the City Council declined to vote on an honorary street sign, supporters of the initiative refused to cease in their struggle to memorialize Hampton in Chicago, an effort they initiated just hours after Hampton’s death and have continued through the present.
