In 1968, the Black Panthers established an Illinois chapter on the West Side of Chicago. The Black Panthers were a revolutionary organization that combined opposition to racism and police brutality with community programs such as free breakfasts and health clinics. The chapter quickly came under the leadership of the charismatic Fred Hampton, a young civil rights organizer known for his powerful speaking ability, who became one of the city’s most prominent Black activists. Around the same time, the Young Lords, a primarily Puerto Rican group that had formed initially as a street gang in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, rededicated itself under José "Cha Cha" Jiménez to becoming a political and human rights organization.
The Young Lords made the news for occupying Chicago’s 18th District Police Station, to protest police violence. After reading this news, Hampton sought out Jiménez. The two met and formed the Rainbow Coalition, a multiracial alliance of working-class organizations united around issues of housing, poverty, police brutality, and racial and economic inequality. The term soon became a rallying cry for cross-race class struggle.
Bob Lee, a Black Panther Party organizer and former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) activist who became instrumental in building the coalition, helped create an alliance with the Young Patriots Organization. A group of poor and working-class white Southerners and Appalachian migrants living primarily in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, the Young Patriots referred to themselves as “dislocated hillbillies” and had formed largely to address such issues as poor housing conditions and welfare programs. They had been inspired by the Civil Rights movement and admired the Black Panther Party. Crucially, they envisioned a solidarity focused on class instead of race.
After establishing alliances among these groups, the Rainbow Coalition partnership officially formed in 1969. Hampton represented the Black Panther Party, Jiménez the Young Lords Organization, and William “Preacherman” Fesperman of the Young Patriots rounded out the initial coalition leaders.
The group quickly got to work, joining with other civil rights organizations to address issues like poverty, poor housing conditions, police brutality, and more. They supported each other at protests and strikes, collaborated to improve public education, and promoted class solidarity across racial lines. Local religious organizations anchored the coalition by offering safe meeting spaces, logistical assistance, and volunteers for their new programs. The Northside Cooperative Ministry stood as a close ally, while Pastor Bruce Johnson of Armitage Avenue Methodist Church—known colloquially as La Iglesia de la Gente, or “The People’s Church”—supplied vital organizing space. The network launched community programs like food pantries, and the Young Patriots successfully established a free health clinic. Additionally, the coalition promoted civic education, encouraging Chicagoans to get out and take action.
Religious organizations also played an important role in the coalition’s development. Churches and clergy provided meeting spaces, organizational support, and connections to neighborhood communities. In Lincoln Park, the Northside Cooperative Ministry, a network of clergy working with poor and working-class residents supported the Young Lords and other community organizers, while Rev. Bruce Johnson of Armitage Avenue Methodist Church welcomed the Young Lords into the church, which they soon transformed into the People’s Church and used for community programs. Earlier, a meeting at the Church of the Three Crosses brought Black Panther organizer Bob Lee and members of the Young Patriots together to discuss poverty and organizing across racial lines, helping lay groundwork for the Rainbow Coalition. These relationships illustrate how some Chicago religious institutions served as spaces where activists built alliances and organized for social change.
The coalition faced intense pressure from the FBI, with the attention of its Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) focused on Fred Hampton and the Black Panther party. Authorities considered Hampton dangerous due to his ability to form cross-racial coalitions, as demonstrated by the success of the Rainbow Coalition. On December 4, 1969, Fred Hampton was assassinated by the local police, with the support of the FBI. This event proved a catalyst for intensified suppression of the Rainbow Coalition’s groups and initiatives by local police departments.
The ideals championed by the Rainbow Coalition fueled later pushes for civil rights. In 1984, the Reverend Jesse Jackson adopted the term when forming his own national coalition, a legacy later invoked by other political figures, most recently Barack Obama. The dream forged by these local Chicago groups, who formed unlikely alliances across racial boundaries and—vitally—mobilized faith communities, has generated profound consequences for social change movements, not only in Chicago, but across the country.
Further Reading
At the Newberry, view buttons, fliers, and press photographs related to the activities of the Rainbow Coalition during the late 1960s and early 1970s in our Rainbow Coalition Collection. For digitized versions of print material in the collection, go to collections.newberry.org and search for Midwest MS Rainbow.
Find more information on the original Rainbow Coalition in the books From the Bullet to the Ballot by Jakobi Williams, Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power by Amy Sonnie and Tracy James, and It Is Not Enough to Survive by Jesse Montgomery.
Chase Viscuse is a master's degree student at the University of Chicago Divinity School and a Martin Marty Center Summer Intern for the Beyond Belief initiative.