Jack Kerouac: 1922-1969

Jack Kerouac was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on March 12th, 1922. Because his parents were both descendants of French-Canadian immigrants, his family spoke a French dialect called joual at home and therefore he spoke no English until he was about six years old. Life in Lowell was not easy during Jack's childhood. While it had once been an important industrial town, businesses were on the decline and the Great Depression hit Lowell's economy hard. Many families, including the Kerouacs, had trouble making ends meet.

From a very early age on, Jack was very creative and artistic. In high school, Jack became a local football star. He was so talented that he won a scholarship for a college education at Columbia. In 1940, Jack went to Columbia to begin playing football, but broke his leg early in the season.

Jack then got a job as the sports reporter for the Lowell Sun, where he worked for several months. The United States was just entering into World War II, and Jack decided to join a ship as a sailor in the Merchant Marine in early 1942, but was honorably discharged a few months later on psychological grounds.

In 1949, Jack took a road trip from the East Coast to San Francisco and he would cross America and Mexico several times in the next decade. These cross-country trips are the background for Jack's most famous work, On the Road.

Jack Kerouac died in 1969.