The Rainbow Coalition was a coalition active in the late 1960s and early 1970s, founded in Chicago, Illinois by Fred Hampton

Fred Hampton

Fred Hampton was an African-American activist and deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party...

 of the activist Black Panther Party

Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....

, along with William "Preacherman" Fesperman of the Young Patriots Organization

Young Patriots Organization

The Young Patriots Organization was an American left-wing organization of the 1960s and 70s. Growing out of an SDS project called JOIN , its first leader was Doug "Youngblood" Blakey, the son of Peggy Terry. It was later led by Jack "Junebug" Boykin, and then, William "Preacherman" Fesperman...

 and Jose (Cha-Cha) Jimenez, the Puerto Rican

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

 founder of the Young Lords

Young Lords

The Young Lords, later Young Lords Organization and in New York , Young Lords Party, was a Puerto Rican nationalist group in several United States cities, notably New York City and Chicago.-Founding:...

. It later expanded to include various radical

Political radicalism

The term political radicalism denotes political principles focused on altering social structures through revolutionary means and changing value systems in fundamental ways...

 socialist groups. It was associated with the rising Black Power

Black Power

Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...

 movement, which mobilized some African-American discontent and activism by other ethnic minority groups after the passage of the mid-1960s civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 legislation under Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...

.

The coalition also included members of various local ethnic gangs, among whom Hampton, Rising Up Angry

Rising Up Angry

Rising Up Angry was a militant community organization based in working class communities in Chicago. They published a monthly newspaper also called Rising Up Angry from 1969 to 1975...

, the Young Patriots, and the Young Lords had brokered treaties to end violence between them. The leaders worked to reduce conflict by the treaties, as they believed that poor youths' fighting each other in gang wars achieved little benefit for them. Hampton and his colleagues believed that the Daley Machine in Chicago and the American ruling class used gang wars to consolidate their own political positions by gaining funding for law enforcement and dramatizing crime rather than underlying social issues.

Organizations in the Rainbow Coalition

• Black Panther Party
  Black Panther Party
  The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
  
  ;
• The Patriot Party;
• Young Patriots Organization
  Young Patriots Organization
  The Young Patriots Organization was an American left-wing organization of the 1960s and 70s. Growing out of an SDS project called JOIN , its first leader was Doug "Youngblood" Blakey, the son of Peggy Terry. It was later led by Jack "Junebug" Boykin, and then, William "Preacherman" Fesperman...
  
  ; and
• Young Lords
  Young Lords
  The Young Lords, later Young Lords Organization and in New York , Young Lords Party, was a Puerto Rican nationalist group in several United States cities, notably New York City and Chicago.-Founding:...