Jack London

     John Griffith London was born in San Fransisco in 1876 to Flora Wellman, a wealthy unmarried woman. Flora became ill soon after and as a result, London was raised by an ex-slave, Virginia Pretniss throughout most of his childhood. London's real father is not known for sure but shortly after his birth, Flora married a man named John London. As a young boy, John-nicknamed Jack- started off working many different hard labor jobs such as serving on a fish patrol to capture poachers. Sometime after high school socialism began to spark his interest and he became known as the Boy Socialist of Oakland for his street corner oratory. He even ran for mayor as a socialist multiple times, with no success. Eventually he turned to writing as a way out of the stress of factory work.      After many failed attempts of being published, he finally began to get publishers to pay him some attention and it wasn't long before he was an established and highly publicized figure. Through his publicity, he endorsed his support of socialism, women's suffrage, and prohibition. Many of his works became increasingly popular and some were even turned into films.
     In 1900, London married Bess Maddern and together they had two daughters. He divorced her several years later following his affair with Charmian Kittredge, who he married soonafter. During his thirties he encurred many health issues and even developed kidney disease which took his life on November 22, 1916. His works were translated into many different languages and are widespread throughout the world even still today.


Dr. Clarice Stasz. "Jack [John Griffith] London." Sonoma. n.p., 19 August 2001. Web. 13 April 2012. <http://london.sonoma.edu/jackbio.html>.