H.Res. 977: Commemorating the life and legacy of Jean-Louis de Kérouac on the centennial of his birth on March 12, 2022.

Whereas Jean-Louis de Kérouac, better known as Jack, was a giant of American literature and favorite son of Lowell, Massachusetts;

Whereas, alongside Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac ignited the literary movement in the 1950s known as the Beat Generation;

Whereas the Beat Generation’s rebuke against traditional values and materialism created the foundation for subsequent counterculture movements in America and beyond;

Whereas the beatnik stereotype dominated popular media and culture in the 1950s and 1960s, an amalgamation of Kerouac’s self-expressive, unconventional characters;

Whereas the Beatles took their name after the movement, while artists such as Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison cite Kerouac’s work as major influences; and

Whereas, more than half a century since his death, Kerouac’s novels still fire the imagination, particularly of young people, and serve as a tribute to their culture-changing origins: Now, therefore, be it