Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America

The Peoples Temple movement ended on November 18, 1978, when the children in Jonestown were put to death by adult members, most of whom then took their own lives. Only a handful lived to tell their story. As is well known, Jim Jones was white, but most of his followers were black. Despite that, little has been written about the Peoples Temple from the point of view of the black experience in America. In ten essays, all but two specially commissioned for this volume, scholars from various disciplines address this gap in the scholarship. Twenty-five years after the tragedy at Jonestown, they assess the impact of the black religious experience on the Peoples Temple.