Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America

Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the black religious experience

The Peoples Temple movement ended on November 18, 1978, when the children in Jonestown were put to death by adult members, most of whom then took their own lives. Little has been written about the Peoples Temple from the point of view of the black experience in America. This title addresses this gap in the scholarship on the Peoples Temple.

The Peoples Temple movement ended on November 18, 1978, when more than 900 men, women, and children died in a ritual of murder and suicide in their utopianist community of Jonestown, Guyana. Only a handful lived to tell their story. As is well known, Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, was white, but most of his followers were black. Despite that, little has been written about Peoples Temple in the context of black religion in America. In 10 essays, writers from various disciplines address this gap in the scholarship. Twenty-five years after the tragedy at Jonestown, they assess the impact of the black religious experience on Peoples Temple.