Born this date in 1876, American novelist, short story writer and political essayist Jack London.
You probably remember him for his tales of dogs in the Alaskan wilderness, including The Call of the Wild and White Fang. He wrote his most famous works after spending time in Alaska during the Gold Rush.
But London was much more than a writer of wilderness adventures. As a young man, he was briefly caught up in Kelly’s Army, part of a larger protest movement called “Coxey’s Army.” It was the “Occupy Wall Street” of the 1890s.
Following an economic depression in 1893 –the largest economic downturn in American history to that time– a group of unemployed Americans began a march on Washington. They were led by Jacob Coxey and were eventually called “Coxey’s Army.” In 1894, they began a protest march, hoping to force the federal government to do more to help out-of-work Americans with road building and other public works projects. It was one part of the growing populist and labor movements of the day and was met with predictable disdain by politicians. This is a report from the New York Times from March 1894.
Out West, the movement spawned “Kelly’s Army” and a young Jack London joined up. He later wrote about the experience in a piece called “Two Thousand Stiffs” published in his book The Road (1907).
In the evenings our camps were invaded by whole populations. Every company had its campfire, and around each fire something was doing. The cooks in my company, Company L, were song-and-dance artists and contributed most of our entertainment. In another part of the encampment the glee club would be singing . . . All these things ran neck and neck; it was a full-blown Midway. A lot of talent can be dug out of two thousand hoboes. I remember we had a picked baseball nine, and on Sundays we made a practice of putting it all over the local nines. Sometimes we did it twice on Sundays. (Source: The Jack London Online Collection, Sonoma State University)
London later became a Socialist and was a passionate unionist and advocate of workers’ rights. They probably didn’t tell you that part when they assigned White Fang in junior high.
There is a great collection of London material, including writings, biographical essays, photographs and critical material at Sonoma State University’s Jean and Charles Schultz Information Center-Jack London Online Collection.
London died on November 22, 1916. This is his New York Times obituary. His home is now a California State Park.
