Much of what has been published about the history of Jonestown suffers from a fatal flaw: little of it is told from the perspective of the people who lived there. The challenge is almost self-evident, since a majority of them died during the tragedy of November 18th, 1978. Only a handful of people survived the mass death or left Jonestown in the weeks and months beforehand, and even some of them acknowledge they don’t know the whole story.
With this in mind, I accepted the opportunity to join a research group led by Prof. Alexandra Prince in their American Gods class at Skidmore College. I came to the project with very little religious upbringing, but as a double major in psychology and social work, I believe that we can learn the most about a person’s life by letting them control their own narrative in their own voice.
The project – which is ongoing – consists of transcribing letters to Jim Jones from the people who lived in Jonestown. While many of them are very raw and almost illiterate, these are the primary sources from history that give us a more complete understanding what happened in Jonestown, what the residents believed in, what their background were, why they moved, and why they felt commitment to the Peoples Temple cause, even unto death. My hope is that this is the type of research that will shift the focus away the way people died to one of understanding the group holistically. As Jonestown survivor Tim Carter put it:
We were not simply right or wrong, good or evil, just or unjust, mindless or mindful…. We were a widely divergent group of human beings committed to an ethos of collectivism. We shared a passionate idealism to make the world a better place. We did not exist in a vacuum. We were a reflection of the economic and political and cultural realities…. Whether one’s intentions had been political or spiritual, the Temple seemed to offer the ideal opportunity to affect social change. (Carter 2013)
To consider only the ending or to limit our perspective on Peoples Temple to its admittedly negative features is shortsighted and irresponsible. It was a vibrant group with a goal of uplifting others, creating peace and equality. Labelling it as a cult is an accurate description, but the dismissive connotations associated with the word tend to overshadow everything that was positive about the group.
By now, I have read hundreds of pages of handwritten letters from Temple members to Jim Jones, revealing their innermost thoughts, worries, hopes, dreams, fantasies, and confessions. To be sure, it feels intrusive at times. These people have been dead for nearly 50 years, and I’m sure they would be appalled to know I have spent so much time on documents not intended for my eyes. My hope is that they would understand that this research aims to provide the truth about what actually happened in Jonestown, that this process is a form of justice for those who lived there. Even greater is my hope that it brings more truth and clarity for survivors and family members of those who died that tragic day in 1978.