The Genocide of Jonestown What if you were forced to kill yourself by the person that said they would put the puzzle pieces of your life back in the right spot and give it meaning? Jim Warren Jones was born May 13, 1931 in Crete, Indiana. As a child Jim Jones was considered the underdog of town even though he would fight off kids who bully other children, he would save stray pets and he would even take beggars to his own home. When Jim graduated he had a big interest in medicine and that was the start of it all. Jim Jones began to get his career on the move, Jim and Marceline adopted many children but they did have one child of their own. Marceline and Jim had a really difficult marriage but stayed together as well as they could until the end. More and more Jim Jones wanted the world to be a better place so he tried out being a student pastor in a church that had already taken off, this didn’t work out because Jim didn’t believe in segregation and all of the others in the church did. Jim wanted most of his preaching to be to African Americans. To bring in new people Jim used “healing” rituals, he stood in front of them to preach about how he could heal them from eye problems all the way to heart disease. Jim Jones could finally start his own church with all of the followers he had gained in 2 years. The first church was opened in Indianapolis in 1956 which he called the “peoples temple”. Jim thought that there was a bad balance in the world that the rich were way to rich and the poor were working way too hard for the little that they got. So the people’s temple helped get homes for the mentally ill and the elderly and also helped people find jobs. The temple grew larger and larger as the days went by, in 1966 Jim Jones decided ... ... middle of paper ... ... on them. Congressman Ryan died and many of the others that tried to leave were injured in the act. Jim Jones influenced all of these followers to do “revolutionary suicide”, many of Jim Jones followers died from drinking the cyanide-laced grape punch that he had given them. Jim also died on (November 18, 1978) of a gun wound straight to his head. Yet no one knows if the gunshot wound was self-inflicted. What happened in Jonestown was a sad devastation to many people, and it can even be considered genocide because of all the people he made commit suicide to be with each other in the end. A total of 900 people died from drinking the cyanide-laced grape punch. Once you kill someone it cannot be undone and that does not change once you kill more either it just makes it worse with the 900 that were killed in Jonestown. That makes Jim Jones a dictator to this genocide.
Jesse James Rides Again! History books say that Jesse Woodson James was killed on April 3, 1882, but others believe differently. (Hall) I believe Jesse James died in 1951 in Grandbury, Texas at the age of 103. Between 1882 and 1948 he went by many different names but mainly went by J. Frank Dalton. From the Civil War to Jesse James supposed death in 1882, Jesse was a major outlaw. After 1882 Jesse led a normal life and had many different professions.
...t its operation. Jonestown, after the termination of the project, was thought to have been a test site for mind control and mental experiments under MKUltra due to the mass suicide that took place there that became known as the Peoples Temple mass suicide and the formation of the Jim Jones cult in that town. Further, Leo Ryan was murdered in Jonestown by the Peoples Temple members when he was investigating numerous reports that were claimed to have happened in that area. Besides the Jonestown theory, the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy was believed, by Lawrence Teeter, to have been a work of the techniques used in the Project MKUltra. Moreover, the attorney believed that Sirhan Sirhan, was under the influence of hypnosis when he murdered Robert F. Kennedy. Nevertheless, he was found guilty of first degree murder and six days later, was executed in a gas chamber.
The book A ,Misplaced Massacre, Ari Kelman’s writing describes the Sandy Creek Massacre astounding while still explaining how historians struggled to get its story to public and be told. This epic event in the history of America’s settlement occurred on . The sandy river Massacre was once seen a horrific event. The tittle has even been debated over the years.
Jim Elliot was born in Portland, Oregon, on October 8, 1927 as the son of Fred and Clara Elliot. Having Christian parents, Elliot lived according to the word of God and accepted Christ as his savior when he was six years old. Having grown up in Portland, he began to attend Benson Polytechnic High School in 1941. He became a part of a public-speaking club and became known for his speaking abilities. With his eloquence, he gave his fellow classmates reasons why he did not get himself involved in secular activities such as debating on politics or attending school parties.
Jim Lewis was born on March 3rd, 1910 in McKinney, Texas. He was the middle child of three, with Jim and Laura Lewis as his parents . He was in the Texas National Guard, before he volunteered to go into World War 2, at the age of 35. He was too old to be drafted, but after Pearl Harbor, he felt the need to serve his country the best he could. Lewis married Catherine Harkey after the war, and had four children. He worked for City Chevrolet for most of his life after the war as a car mechanic and later a security guard. After Catherine died, he was remarried for a few years until he died of testicular cancer, leaving behind all four children, nine grandchildren, and four great grandchildren .
... were against gods will and immoral. Jones also abused his followers physically and emotionally. Jones inability to treat his problem affected his capacity to effectively serve his followers and reach the goals he set for his congregation. The most extreme example of unethical behavior is when he issued his followers to kill Congressman Leo Ryan from leaving Jonestown, Guyana in order to prevent some of his followers from leaving and the potential for government interference with his commune. Jones was able to manipulate his followers into believing that his congregation would change the world but his inability to act ethically and effectively led to his downfall.
“I’m not a humanitarian, I’m a hell-raiser.” Mother Jones followed her own advice concerning a small town in Las Animas County. The Ludlow Massacre occurred on April 20th, 1994, in the tent town of Ludlow, Colorado, the intricate web of events that lead to the events that happened in Ludlow are a look in to the conditions that some of the minorities and immigrants had to live in, during the early twentieth century.
Chapter Six. God and Judge Jones. Charles Pierce talks to Judge Jones about how he was promoted to his Judge position and how Judge Jones became a Judge. In the words of Judge Jones, “In the first six months,” he recalls, “I had this germ of an idea. I thought, ‘Gee, I’d like to do this.’ That’s not unusual. A lot of lawyers want to become judges. So, I held that thought.” (Page 136) Judge Jones also made a ruling that the public did not agree with and he was put on a protection plan along with his life. He was being judged by public opinion. Judge Jones certainly isn’t the idiot in this situation. Those who tried to kill him deserve to be.
Jonestown is a docudrama that was produced on January 15, 2007. It tells the story about Jim Jones and the People’s Temple which ended tragically in the infamous mass suicide of over 900 American citizens in 1978. The story follows Reverend Jim Jones and his followers during Jones’ rise from a socially active small town preacher to an important and respected Clergyman working toward a higher socialist goal. In this mass suicide, the children were included. Everyone in that town either willingly took the poison, or they were forced, even if it had to be injected. My question is, why would so many people knowingly kill their own children and commit suicide because of what one person has told them?
Inside the John Sassamon story lays the true reason why he was killed. Sassamon was an educated man, which was very rare considering he was a Native American. Even though he was growing apart from some of his friends in the colonies he still had strong ties with them. There are many reasons why he would be killed but none as strong as turning on your own people. Treason is considered a great offence to our country, imagine the offence taken by the Native Americans. Reading this book I found great similarities with the Native American culture and one with a gang or a mob family. All of them seem to have great penalties for one of their own turning against them. The major difference would be that the Native Americans religion was also a great deal of their culture. A mob family’s religion (catholic or instance) would conflict with the killing of another human. But the Native Americans were not that way, if one was killed and they took hostages then the one killed could be revenged by killing a hostage....
I think the main aim of Jim Jones was to take the control of the people. Actually, he was frustrated by the incidents he faced in his life. He was not treated in a good manner for being born as a poor kid. So he learned a lesson that the only way to take control of the people is to start faith-healing. To make people trust him, he made up some characters as members in the temple, who will make up stories and share them with the rest of the crew. So for him to take the revenge of all the bad incidents he faced, the only way is only to take the control of the
The film “Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple” goes beneath the surface of the infamous religious cult created by a charismatic man by the name of Jim Jones in the 1970s. He is a higher power in his own sense and makes his followers believe that he can save them. A prime example would be the incident where he gave a woman in a wheelchair the ability to walk again, but come to find out it was a mere set up. The people living in this era are in search for answers to their problems, so they turn to Jim Jones. Jim Jones brainwashes these innocent people. He tells them how they should live, but does he live that way himself? In this all-telling documentary, people who lived during the era of Jim Jones speak out about the infamous cult and the events that eventually led to the horrifying mass suicide in 1978, and even traces back to Jones’ unhappy childhood.
He would hold his own services preaching to other children in his community. Jones preached about spiritual healing, wisdom, healing and brotherhood. When he first founded his church, it was named Wings of Deliverance, later known as the Peoples Temple. One of the ways he would attract followers was through his healings. He would perform healings showing his congregation he had the power to magically cure all illnesses, however, it turned out to be fake. For example, Jones healed people of cancer, where he would remove rancid-smelling objects that were supposedly cancerous tissue, when in fact, were rotten chicken liver. Not to mention, Jones influenced some of his subordinates to deceive the congregation to believe he had healing powers; "secretaries dressing up as old women, and the same woman coming out of wheelchairs on different nights" (McGehee III, Alternative Considerations of Jonestown & Peoples Temple). Jones implanted people in different locations of his assembly. When it was time for healings, these women would walk to the pulpit and he would magically heal them. By Jones using his subordinates to deceive the congregation, he was able to convince them that he had healing powers. The congregation believed he could heal all of them of their illnesses and diseases because of his healing powers. The people in the congregation would also spread the news to others, presenting them a Savior. This fantasy entices more people to join his congregation. In view of this, we see that Jones resorted to deceitful means to acquire more
Before the People’s Temple migrated to Guyana, it was a church with thousands of followers who praised Christ and desired social change in society. The leader of the People’s Temple, Jim Jones, was an avid drug user and paranoid over conspiracy theories and negative media attention regarding his church. So, in the 1970s, two decades after the church was established, Jim Jones persuaded over 1,000 of his followers to journey into the Guyanese jungle by promising to constitute a utopian society. Then, on November 18th, 1978, more than 900 members- not including Congressman Ryan and other members of his delegation who ventured to Guyana on suspicion of abuse and were ambushed and killed- of the People’s Temple died under the orders of Jim Jones in the settlement they deemed “Jonestown”. Bodies lay in rows, on top of one another, and sprawled out all over Jonestown and all evidence depicted
Dittmann states that Jones used techniques such as compliance, conformity, and obedience training to brainwash his followers (2013). Jones would force his followers to tell him their biggest fears; in return, he would use that information against them if they ever disobeyed him. In Jonestown, Jones would require his followers to give him thanks daily, brainwashing them into believing he was their savior (Dittmann, 2013). Because Jones was a mastermind at manipulation, it is understandable why so many people would follow him and his orders in Peoples