Reflections and Articles by Kathryn (Tropp) Barbour

Kathryn (Tropp) Barbour

Kathryn (Tropp) Barbour

Kathryn Barbour, a survivor, joined Peoples Temple in 1970 with her companion, Richard Tropp. She was living in the San Francisco Temple on November 18, 1978. That night, she determined to continue working for the principles the Temple had personified, and resolved to broaden her focus to society at large, as a citizen of the world. In ensuing years, she has worked with Amnesty International, the Rainbow Coalition, the anti-apartheid movement, the Gray Panthers, and Single Payer Now, and is a sustaining supporter of the Southern Poverty Law Center. She believes that vindication of the dead will come only when socialism is recognized as a virtue, an honorable calling to be encouraged if we are to survive on an increasingly interdependent earth.

Kathryn is the author of a memorial album, Who Died, a book-length compilation of photographs of the Jonestown dead. Two articles reflecting on the book and her writing process are Redefining Jonestown and Channeling the Pioneers.

Tina Christian: Maintaining Closeness in Time of Adversity (2022)

The United States of Jonestown, Alive and Well (2017)

Jim Jones, MK-ULTRA Poster Child? (2017)

Mystery of the Last Tape Reconsidered (2015)

The United States of Jonestown (2013)

Coming to Terms with “Drinking the Kool-Aid” (2012)

A Review of Stories from Jonestown (2012)

Re-Discovering Myself at Evergreen  (2011)

In Search of the Grander Scale: A Review of A Thousand Lives (2011)

Remembering Dick Tropp (2010)

What have we learned in 32 years? (2010)

An Open Letter to My Jonestown Family (2009)

Standing at the Edge of the Precipice (2008)

“Were We Special? Are We Still?” (2006)