Jack Kelly

Jack (Francis Sullivan) Kelly was the passionate and charismatic leader of the Manhattan Newsies, the president of the Newsboys Union, and spearhead of the 1899 July Newsboys Strike. The son of unknown parents, he was regarded as one of the most talented newsies of his generation, with both natural ability and years of experience on his side.

He rallied first the newsies of Lower Manhattan, and successively the entire city, to a strike in response to Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper price hike in July 1899, alongside his close friend David Jacobs.

Name

 * Jack Kelly: The name Jack Kelly was chosen by the writers of the movie after Jack Kelly, a 1950's actor who was best known for the western cowboy movies that he starred in.
 * Francis: English form of the Late Latin name Franciscus meaning "Frenchman", ultimately from the Germanic tribe of the Franks, who were named for a type of spear that they used.
 * Sullivan: Sullivan is the transferred use of an anglicized Irish surname which originally came in the Gaelic form of O'Súilleabháin from the Irish nickname Súilleabháin with variable meanings of either “one-eyed”, “hawk-eyed” or “dark-eyed”.