The Jonestown Massacre
The Jonestown massacre was a horrible tragedy, which took the lives of
over 900 innocent people and could possibly be the most corrupt and
horrific experiment the American government has ever done.
To get to know about the massacre, you have to know a little about the
man behind it all, Reverend Jim Jones. Jim Jones was the son of a
Klansman and considered himself to be a reincarnation of both Jesus
and Lenin. (Lenin was a Russian revolutionist who helped bring about
socialism in Russia.) They say he was paranoid of the American
government, but later, it was found that he worked for it. He was a
well-known person in San Francisco because he was the leader of the
People's Temple and also because of the fact that he was the Chairman
of the Housing Department and he and his church won many humanitarian
awards. He was called "Father" by members of the People's Temple.
The People's Temple was the so-called "church" that Jones established.
People joined the People's Temple for different reasons; a political
statement, structure, discipline, or a way to escape from violence,
alcohol and drugs. Whatever the reason they joined for, when they got
in something kept them there.
Jim Jones was a mastermind at brainwashing, and that's just what he
did to all of his followers. He had many tactics; he was an excellent
speaker and was amazingly convincing, he staged fake healings, and
used narcotics on his followers, so they would believe almost
anything. As he was doing all this brainwashing he was stealing money
from the people, raping the young women and girls of his church, and
on top of it all, murdering those who seemed a threat to his church or
attempted to leave.
Eventually, The People's Temple was being investigated by the police,
so Jim Jones moved it to the jungle of Guyana, he called this place
Jonestown. Jonestown was his idea of the perfect community. It was
based on the ideals of socialism and communism, and everyone worked
Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their lives. Geanne Harwood, interviewed on an National Public Radio Broadcast commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, said that “being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition … we felt that in order to survive we had to try to look and act as rugged and as manly as possibly to get by in a society that was really very much against us.” The age of communist threats, and of Joseph McCarthy’s insistence that homosexuals were treacherous, gave credence to the feeling of most society members that homosexuality was a perversion, and that one inflicted was one to not be trusted.
In the next pages I will explain why Fredericksburg was such a tragedy. Why it was a big morale booster for the South, but a disappointment for the North?
On October 9, 1781, General George Washington surrounded General Lord Charles Cornwallis at the Virginia port city of Yorktown with 8,500 American soldiers and around 10,000 French soldiers. The bruised up British army contained only around 8,000 soldiers. The Siege of Yorktown lasted eight days, and Cornwallis had to surrender to American forces. The British loss crushed their southern army and forced them to give up on the war. The surrender of Yorktown could easily be one of the greatest moments in American history. Not only did the surrender signal the end of the war, but it also signaled that independence had been won by the colonies. No longer would the colonies have to answer to Great Britain and the tyrants that ruled it.
of the rape of a 14 year old girl by twenty GIs ... in front of the
On March 16, 1968, in the Quang Ngai region of Vietnam, specifically My Lai, the United States military was involved in an appalling slaughter of approximately 500 Vietnamese civilians. There are numerous arguments as to why this incident even had the capacity to occur. Although some of the arguments seem valid, can one really make excuses for the slaughter of innocent people? The company that was responsible for the My Lai incident was the Charlie Company, and throughout the company, there were many different accounts of what happened that reprehensible day. Therefore, there are a few contradictions about what had occurred, such as what the commanding officers' exact instructions for the soldiers were.
The Civil war cut our nation in two, Americans fighting Americans, brother against brother. A key battle fought westward was the turning point in the war: the Battle of Vicksburg.
Not one person from Sandy Hook, Connecticut ever thought this sort of event would ever happen. On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members in a mass murder at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Before the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Lanza shot and killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at his home in Newtown, Connecticut. After the shooting, Lanza successfully committed suicide before he was detained. Which left, the state, officials, and the entire country to question why Lanza would do such a horrible act of violence to innocent children and staff members of the school. Also, questioning the security of schools, and even our country. There are many conspiracies of the Sandy Hook Shooting. Some believe that Adam Lanza was not the murderer. He was just a scapegoat and the deaths were actually purported by the government. Some claim Adam Lanza was not even a real person or that he had died some time ago and the identity was assumed into the fictional character created to be the perpetrator. On the contrary, there is proof that the massacre is not a hoax, and Adam Lanza did kill children, adults, and himself at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Bass, Jack. “Documenting the Orangeburg Massacre.” Nieman Reports. Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, Fall 2003. Accessed November 21, 2013 http://neiman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=100992
tried with King Laius to kill their son, and had no respect for the prophecies
The Homestead Strike, also known as the Homestead Steel Strike, Pinkerton Rebellion, or Homestead Massacre, was an industrial lockout and strike which began on June 30, 1892, culminating in a battle between strikers and private security agents on July 6, 1892. The battle was one of the most serious disputes in U.S. labor history, third behind the Ludlow Massacre and the Battle of Blair Mountain. The dispute occurred at the Homestead Steel Works in the Pittsburgh area town of Homestead, Pennsylvania, between the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers and the Carnegie Steel Company. The result was a major defeat for the union and a setback for their efforts to unionize steelworkers.
Brooks, Rebecca B. "The Boston Massacre." History of Massachusetts. N.p., 10 Nov. 2011. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
I discussed the differences between Captain Thomas Preston’s Account of the Boston Massacre (1770) and Paul Revere, Image of The Bloody Massacre (1770). I then explained both men’s story beginning with Captain Thomas Preston’s vision of the event. I then explained Paul Revere version of the event. I then included my opinion which account I believed was most accurate and explained why.
The Boston Massacre was one the most controversial massacre in American history that teased the coming of the American Revolution. People were taunting a British soldier who was standing “in front of the Boston Custom House” who got very frustrated to the point where he hit somebody. The soldier got overwhelmed by people who came after he hit one of them, called help from his fellow soldiers. When Captain Preston and his soldiers arrived at the scene, people were coming from everywhere, some were trying to fight them and some were just there to watch. Then, one of the soldier shot at the people and his fellow soldiers started shooting after, which killed five people. This what ended it up being called the Boston Massacre. Some might say that the murderer were the soldiers who shot the people, but the real murderer is
He kept saying that it had to do with what he felt the Lord wanted him to do for his fellow slave friends, but I do not feel like he was completely right in the head and I feel like he needed to do what he did for his own well-being. He obviously thought he was serving the Lord by doing so, but when you think about it logically you cannot declare someone right in the mind after something like this. Committing horrendous murders as an act to show the Lord how you think you have to serve him is completely contradictory. He could have used the whole “Lord’s will” as an excuse for his wrongful actions, but why else would he have any reason to kill these people if they had not done him
The tragedy consisting of rape, murder, and looting will never disappear from the city or its inhabitants. Thanks to John Rabe and several others, thousands of Chinese were able to survive. The history of the massacre is slowly dying, but because of books and museums, the history lives on. The Japanese have not repaired Nanjing or educated their own country about their own mistakes. The Japanese still refuse to believe that the massacre even occurred, even though there are pictures of the event and vital proof.