More Than 20 Black Panther Party Members Were Martyrs In The Struggle
March, 1968 Los Angeles, California. Arthur Glenn Morris, 28, (also given as Arthur Glenn Carter) killed by counter-revolutionary
April 6, 1968 Oakland, California. Bobby Hutton, 17, Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party killed in Police Ambush-shot as he surrendered, with hands in air, unarmed, after 90 minute shootout involving over four dozen police
August 25, 1968 Los Angeles, California. Tommy Lewis, 18, killed by police after he and several other men pulled into Ham’s Mobile Service station. The men were pursued by police and shot down as they were getting out of their car.
August 25, 1968 Los Angeles, California. Robert Lawrence, 22, killed by police after he and several other men pulled into Ham’s Mobile Service station. The men were pursued by police and shot down as they were getting out of their car.
August 25,1968 Los Angeles, California. Steve Bartholomew, 21, killed by police after he and several other men pulled into Ham’s Mobile Service station. The men were pursued by police and shot down as they were getting out of their car.
October 15, 1968 Seattle, Washington. Welton Armstead, 17, killed by police as he was tinting the windows of his car. Police drove up, questioned and harassed him about a stolen car. Armstead decided to defend himself and got his rifle- He asked police to leave him alone. By this time, more police had arrived. Armstead's mother and sister begged police not to shoot. Officer Buttedahl, standing face to face with Armstead, shot him in the heart. ,
November 7, 1968 Seattle, Washington. Sidney Miller, 21, Killed outside grocery store in W. Seattle by merchant who claimed he thought Miller was going to rob the store. No attempt had been made to rob the store.. While leaving store, Miller was shot in the head.
December 30, 1968 Los Angeles, California. Frank Diggs, 40, captain in the Black Panther Party, was found fatally shot by police in the Watts section of Los Angeles
January 17, 1969 Los Angeles, California. Alprentice Carter, 26, Killed by US-UCLA after a dispute in Campbell Hall on the U.C.L.A. campus
January 17, 1969 Los Angeles, California. John Higgins, 23 Killed by US-UCLA after a dispute in Campbell Hall on the U.C.L.A. campus
May 21, 1969 New Haven, Connecticut. Alex Rackley, 24, Murdered by police, his body recovered from stream, wrists were tied with gauze and neck was encircled by a noose fashioned from a wire coat hanger. An autopsy, conducted immediately afterward, indicated that the man had been severely burned on wide areas of the chest, wrists, buttocks, thighs, and right shoulder and had also been beaten around the face, the groin, and the lumbar region with a hard object before he was shot in the head and chest.
May 23, 1969 San Diego, California. John Savage, 21, Killed by US
July 17, 1969 Chicago Illinois. Larry Roberson, 20, shot by police, dies from wounds on September 4, 1969.
August 15, 1969 San Diego, California. Sylvester Bell, 34, Killed by cultural nationalists while selling the Black Panther newspaper in Otto Square
September 12, 1969 Los Angeles. California Nathaniel Clark, 19, Killed by police agent
October 18, 1969 Los Angeles, California. Walter Ray Pope, 20, Killed by Metro Squad police in a vacant lot across from the Jack-in-the-Box drive-in restaurant. .
November 13, 1969 Chicago, Illinois. Spurgeon Jake Winters,19, killed by police in an ambush of an abandoned building at 5801 S. Calumet. Police arrived on the scene with more than 1,000 policemen equipped with .12-gauge shotguns, M-1 carbines, .357 magnums, billy clubs, mace, tear gas, paddy wagons, helicopters, and canine units) for domestic warfare against black people.
Spurgeon Jack Winters Medical Center
The Black Panther Party (BPP) Spurgeon Jake Winters Free People’s Medical Care Center was opened on the West Side of Chicago in the 1960's, in the North Lawndale neighborhood. The free-health care center was named to honor Spurgeon “Jake” Winters, a member of the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party murdered by police on November 13, 1969.
Active in the late 1960's, the Spurgeon Jake Winters Free People's Medical Center offered social services and patient advocacy. The medical center provided awareness of sickle-cell anemia and provided testing for children and adults.
December 4, 1969 Chicago, Illinois. Defense Captain Mark Clark, 22, Assassinated during police raid on the Black Panther headquarters apartment at 2337 West Monroe Street. Mark Clark was the organizer of the Peoria, Illinois Branch of the BPP and was called to Chicago .by Chairman Fred Hampton Sr., who was also assassinated in the December 4th, 1969 BPP Raid.
December 4, 1969 Chicago Illinois. Chairman Fred Hampton Sr., 21, Assassinated during police raid on the Black Panther headquarters apartment at 2337 West Monroe Street. Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. was co-founder of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party.
The Infamous December 4th, 1969 BPP Raid
The Assassination of Black Panther Party Leaders, Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. and Defense Captain Mark Clark occurred in Chicago, Illinois on December 4th 1969 at approximately 4:45 am, the Cook County State Attorney; Edward Hanrahan initiated the gun raid. There were fourteen officers on the special racial matters squad. Eight officers entered at the front of the apartment, and six officers at the back. Police rushed inside the front of the apartment and began spraying the walls with gunfire. Their submachine guns penetrated the walls of Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. and his pregnant fiancée’s bedroom.
Defense Captain Mark Clark was in the front living room in a chair, when police forcibly kicked the door open and began shooting without warning. Mark Clark was shot twice, once in the heart and once in the lung; and was killed instantly. Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. was asleep in the back bedroom with his pregnant fiancée when he was shot in the shoulder from the submachine gunfire that penetrated through the wall. His pregnant fiancée, unable to wake him, was hurried out of the back bedroom into the kitchen. Several policemen enter the bedroom where they shot Chairman Fred several more times. Chairman Fred Hampton Sr. was shot a total of four times; twice in the head at point blank range. An officer was heard to have said "He's good and dead now".
Police continued to spray the apartment. There were 99 submachine gun shots fired by police resulting in the assassinations and serious injury of several other Black Panther Party members.
Several More BPP Members Were Martyrs In The Struggle
December 25, 1969 Chicago, Illinois. Sterling Jones, 20, Killed by police
May 15, 1971, East St. Louis, Illinois. Joe Smith, Killed by police
Article Credits:
Center For The Study Of Political Graphics “Reclaiming The Thoughts Of The Black Panther Party”; ;
Chicago History Museum “Spurgeon Jake Winters Free Medical Center Dedication
MappedChicago.org “Spurgeon Jake Winters Free People’s Health Clinic”
ILBPP.org Historical Preservation Society Of The Black Panther Party “Landmarking The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party”