Jonestown Transcription – Euale Teklay

[Editor’s note: Euale Teklay was one of the students in Prof. Alexandra Prince’s Religion 230 class on Religion and Society who assisted in the transcription of letters from Jonestown residents. This is the paper he wrote about his experiences in working with the text.]

Intro

Transcriptions from the letters of Peoples Temple members serve as a glimpse into each individual member’s reality. The transcribed letters range from confessions, letters to family members, apologies, as well as many other mediums. However, these transcriptions differ from any other form of communication or information from Jonestown or Peoples Temple, as the authors of these letters didn’t know that the things they wrote would be published someday. As a result, these letters offer a rare and unfiltered view into the minds of Peoples Temple members. Our transcriptions reveal the complexities of belief, doubt, loyalty, and disillusionment that many members wrestled with privately. These personal reflections often reflect genuine emotion and perspective, providing us with invaluable insight into the lived experience of many of those within the movement.

Dimensions Revealed of Peoples Temple History  

Similar to the personal narratives we read throughout class, our transcriptions reveal a deeper level of emotion and commitment to the Peoples Temple movement as compared to mainstream narratives often reproduced about Jonestown and Peoples Temple. This allows us as readers the ability to consume a perspective that moves us away from the sensationalism and tragedy emphasized in mainstream media, instead highlighting the genuine hopes, struggles, and sense of purpose that many members felt. It humanizes individuals often dismissed as brainwashed and senseless, encouraging a more nuanced understanding of their motives driving their membership to Peoples Temple.

The personal account of Henry Mercer in Leigh Fondakowski’s, Stories from Jonestown highlights what he felt from living in Jonestown, while also expressing what pushed him towards membership. In his text, Mercer goes on to say, “I’ll never go back to the U.S. again. Jonestown is the onliest place you can relax, it’s the onliest place you can be safe, and I love it out here…I feel like going out and chewing them up when they do anything against the working class, against the poor people. Sometimes, I cry about it [his voice breaks], the hurting things, to think about it, ‘till Jim Jones came and rescued me [sobbing]. You don’t know until you go through it” (Fondakowski 2013, 173). Mercer’s account reveals a deeply personal and emotional connection to Jonestown, one that’s rooted in a sense of community stemming from empowerment, belonging, and a sense of safety. The promises of liberation that Jonestown aimed to fulfill were strong motivators towards membership, contradicting the mainstream narrative entrapping Peoples Temple members in claims of manipulation and deception. Instead, Mercer’s account provides us with an illustration of the promises of refuge Jonestown provided away from the systemic oppression dominating the United States.

Mercer’s personal account of what Jonestown represented and meant to him is similar to some degree to the transcribed account of Janice Warren, a young woman from Vicksburg, Mississippi, who was 18 at the time of the White Night. In the transcribed letter she wrote she also illustrates a differing perspective on Jonestown, one rooted in emotion and motive, similar to the account of Mercer. In the transcription, she goes on to say:

Do [Dad], I want to go to the freedom land yes because I’m so sick of this capitalistic system. And because I fill that me doing what I did trying to follow the leader trying to look good doing something that wasnt even necessary. Thats capitalism and I stupid for doing that I’m sorry and I take what ever discipline given. What I’m willing to do I’m going to come up to the church and do my 8hour work every day and in my spare time I’m going to go pamphletting Try to this cause get to promise land. (Warren).

In the transcription, Warren immediately demonstrates a strong motive for membership, as she illustrates how America’s capitalist juggernaut had tormented her. While also illustrating how the oppression she and others like her felt, which drove a purposeful commitment to the movement. Similar to Mercer’s account, Warren’s transcription reveals that Jonestown represented a safe haven away from the oppression and abuse that members would inevitably feel if they resided in the United States.

While being similar, Warren’s account of Jonestown differs from Mercer’s as she views Jonestown in a different light with a different kind of commitment. Her description of Jonestown demonstrates that she saw it as a transformative place, with the ability to provide redemption and discipline to help her on the path to betterment. She also demonstrates how her commitment to Jonestown is ideological, which ties her commitment to Jonestown as one that’s rooted in the evolution of her own ideals and ideas that have been infiltrated by the capitalistic machine within America.

A Perspective on Life in Jonestown

In her personal narrative, Leslie Wagner-Wilson details what working to live felt like at Jonestown. In her writing, she says, “The fields were a refuge, a place to think, to work the land and see the results of your labor. It was not like working for some corporation where you were treated as stock, but you were active member, making way for the community to survive.” (Wagner-Wilson 2009, 71). Her description of the work also illustrates the dedication and commitment required to maintain the will to continue active membership in the community. She also demonstrates how this commitment to Jonestown was fueled by the feeling of contributing to the group’s survival altogether.

Similar to Wagner-Wilson’s personal reflection of Jonestown are the transcriptions of Lisa Wright, Gloria Warren, and Burrell Wilson, depicting the commitment that stemmed from living life in Jonestown. Lisa Wright was from Los Angeles, California and was 17 at the time of the White night, Burrell Wilson was a member of the Jonestown basketball team and survived the White night, and Gloria Warren was from Vicksburg, Mississippi and the cousin of Janice Warren who was 19 at the time of the White Night. Lisa Wright’s transcription depicts her commitment as she says, “Yes Father I do want to go and be free and I’m willing to follow all instruction and anything I’m told to do to get me there are any of my sisters or brother. my commitment: I will work everyday at the temple doing anything I’m told to do until whatever time.” (Wright, EE-UVWXYZ-59). Gloria Warren’s transcription also depicts a similar commitment to Jonestown as she also says, “To Father & Mother  I am willing to go to the Freedom land, for what ever it might take, I do anything that I am asked to do. Any work assignments or anything else that I have to do I will do it. And Father I apologize all the wrong I have done while you were away.” (Warren, EE-1-UVWXYZ-61). While Burrell Wilson’s personal account also depicts a similar commitment to Jonestown when he says, “yes I’m willing to go to the Freedom Land and work for freedom and save other lives. And to get out of this fancier, capitalist system. Now I’m ready to follow all instructions so that I can get to the freedom land!” (Wilson, EE-1-UVWXYZ-63).

These transcriptions reveal a unique degree of commitment to Jonestown, with an intense devotion to the labor and collective discipline that encompassed daily life at Jonestown. Each individual expresses a willingness to submit themselves to the expectations of the community, while also viewing hard work as a necessary act of loyalty, as opposed to a burden. Unlike mainstream portrayals and narratives of Jonestown, these transcriptions reveal how many residents found purpose in their collective participation to sustain Jonestown. Their words offer invaluable insight into the society aimed to be built in Jonestown, with a focus on how the shared purpose derived from serving others became an everyday part of life.

Spectrum of Experience

The transcribed letters from Jonestown portray similar experiences amongst community members. Many of them depict a lived experience rooted in deep emotional ties and collective participation within Peoples Temple. They also connect to portray an experience wherein they struggle from similar circumstances, driving their motive. However, within these shared experiences, maintains a spectrum of interpretation. For example, members such as Janice and Gloria Warren or Lisa Wright, maintained a commitment in Jonestown based on capitalistic ideals they wished to escape, helping them to view it as a place for personal transformation from American ideals. While Leslie Wagner-Wilson’s account depicted the work in Jonestown as a source of empowerment, illustrating the power in one’s contribution to efforts greater than themselves.

Altogether, the letters reflect a range of voices, from authors who saw Jonestown as a utopia away from the capitalistic machine that was the United States. As a result, the range of reflection fights against mainstream narratives perpetuated about Jonestown and Peoples Temple members. As opposed to the mainstream narratives, the transcribed letters depict their experiences through differing lenses of emotions and morals. The diversity within their purpose highlights a commitment to Jonestown that wasn’t monolithic, but rather one layered with individual meaning.

Conclusion

The perspective provided from our transcribed letters is refreshing to some degree. This is due to mainstream narratives presented in media and pop culture that depict Jonestown and Peoples Temple as a cult, with a leader predicated primarily on the execution of his congregation. Instead, these letters provide a visualization of the commitment the temple members desired to invoke based on the oppression they experienced as minorities in America. Altogether, our transcribed letters work as sources that reveal deeper complexities than those within narratives often presented to us.

Works Cited