---
title: You can jail a revolutionary, but you can't jail the revolution ...
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/black-panther-party-fred-hampton-1969/
description: A memorial poster sets a large portrait of Fred Hampton, and a smaller figure speaking at a microphone, against radiating blue beams, with slogan text…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![You can jail a revolutionary, but you can't jail the revolution ...](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/black-panther-party-fred-hampton-1969.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/black-panther-party-fred-hampton-1969.jpg)

# You can jail a revolutionary, but you can't jail the revolution ...

A memorial poster sets a large portrait of Fred Hampton, and a smaller figure speaking at a microphone, against radiating blue beams, with slogan text running up the left edge: "You can jail a revolutionary, but you can't jail the revolution." A caption block gives his party office and dates and says he was "Murdered by fascist pigs Dec. 4, 1969", using a hostile label for the police who carried out the raid.

- **Date:** 1969
- **Period:** [Cold War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=cold-war)
- **Made by:** Black Panther Party (Illinois chapter, Chicago)
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [Movement](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=movement)
- **Regime:** [Nixon Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=nixon-administration)
- **Leader:** [Richard Nixon](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=richard-nixon)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Commemorate](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=commemorate)
- **Themes:** [Race and ethnicity](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=race-ethnicity), [Security and surveillance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=security-surveillance)
- **Event:** [Killing of Fred Hampton](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=killing-of-fred-hampton)
- **Techniques:** [Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/2015648390/), retrieved September 29, 2026
- **Rights:** U.S. publication without copyright notice; LoC: no known restrictions on publication Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

## Text on the object

Original (English) · checked against a source transcription

```
YOU CAN JAIL A REVOLUTIONARY, BUT YOU CAN'T JAIL THE REVOLUTION. YOU CAN RUN A FREEDOM FIGHTER AROUND THE COUNTRY BUT YOU CAN'T RUN FREEDOM FIGHTING AROUND THE COUNTRY. YOU CAN MURDER A LIBERATOR BUT YOU CAN'T MURDER LIBERATION.

Fred Hampton Deputy
Chairman Illinois Chapter
Black Panther Party
Born August 30, 1948
Murdered By Fascist Pigs
Dec. 4, 1969

I AM A REVOLUTIONARY

PHONE NO. [illegible]
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
[illegible] W. MADISON ST.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS [illegible]
```

The slogan runs as rotated text up the upper left, and is checked against the continued title recorded by LoC. Footer details are small and partly illegible; 'I AM A REVOLUTIONARY' is a small caption by the speaking figure.

[← Pražané! (Praguers!): leaflet from the first days of the 1968 occupation](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/prazane-leaflet-prague-1968/) [The New Left is revolting →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/yaf-new-left-is-revolting-1969/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Passional Christi und Antichristi: the emperor kisses the pope's foot (leaf 'Antichristus')](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/passional-christi-antichristi-emperor-kisses-pope-1521/) (1521 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Anacoana fut pendue sans raison (engraving in Le miroir de la cruelle et horrible tyrannie espagnole)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/anacoana-hanged-miroir-tyrannie-espagnole-1620/) (1620 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Ondersoeckt de Geesten, ofse van den Duyvel syn, of niet (the De Witt brothers as devils)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ondersoeckt-de-geesten-de-witt-devils-1672/) (1672 · Scapegoating, Name-calling)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Sans-Culottes, feeding Europe with the Bread of Liberty (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sans-culottes-bread-of-liberty-gillray-1793/) (Jan 12, 1793 · Fear appeal, Name-calling)
- [Exit Liberté a la Francois! or Buonaparte closing the Farce of Egalité, at St. Cloud (James Gillray)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/exit-liberte-buonaparte-gillray-1799/) (Nov 21, 1799 · Name-calling)