The perfect storm that led to the Jonestown massacre

The Jonestown massacre remains one of the largest mass murders in American history. In a single day, 901 Americans and 8 Guyanese died from Jim Jones’ actions. Met with criticism rather than compassion, victims and survivors of the 1978 tragedy were often blamed and seen as “crazy” for joining the movement. 

The truth is that Jonestown’s leader, preacher Jim Jones, was successful in drawing in followers in the United States because his message resonated in an era of frustration and upheaval—and his views were legitimized by other civil rights leaders. In Guyana, Jones offered a utopia where followers could enact their vision of an equal, self-sufficient society. 

(Cult Massacre: One Day in Jonestown will premiere June 17 on Hulu and August 14 on National Geographic.)

 Wildly charismatic, Jones preached what so many Americans longed to hear. Young radicals, disillusioned by establishment politics and the Vietnam War, applauded the socialist principles he promoted at his church, Peoples Temple. Black members were also drawn in, at one point making up 80 to 90 percent of the congregation. Not only did much of Jones’ work take on civil rights issues, he also modeled traditional Black worship styles, touted his adopted Black and Korean children, and even claimed he himself was Black.

Considering the months and years that led up to the massacre, it’s clear the folks who joined Jonestown weren’t “crazy” or “cultists.” Instead, they were simply people looking to build a fairer, better world—and Jonestown gave them a way to see their community realized.

Jones capitalized on a societal storm

Jim Jones opened what would become Peoples Temple in Indiana in 1954. The Peoples Temple drew from socialism, communism, and Christianity to promote equality and attract a multi-racial congregation. Jones  proselytized with a showman’s panache and used faith-healing to attract followers.

Black Americans made up a significant share of church membership. Peoples Temple’s commitment to racial equality, and its incorporation of Black American religious traditions, meant that it was what scholar Rebecca Moore called “a culturally as well as racially Black movement.” 

“The first time that I got there I was greeted by a rainbow coalition of people, and this was the first time I had been in an atmosphere where it’s one church, multiracial and multigenerational as well,” Former Peoples Temple member Yulanda Williams remembers. “When I heard Jim Jones, he spoke about how much he respected the civil rights movement and how important it was that we continued to live out Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream.”

Jones’s charisma and vision attracted the attention of some of the country’s most visible activists, including actor Jane Fonda and Huey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther movement. Jones also won the support of the political establishment in San FranciscoCalifornia, where he moved his church in 1965. There, he met Rosalynn Carter, wife of President Jimmy Carter, who was so enthralled with Jones she went on to speak from his pulpit.; the two also had dinner together and exchanged letters.  Harvey Milk fawned over Jones’s work, and politicians courting voters often turned up at Peoples Temple.

 Why Jonestown was built in Guyana 

After a series of reports debunked Jones’ faith healing and accused him of abuse, Jones started believing these were signs that America was out to get Peoples Temple––and him. Drug use only fueled his paranoia that the U.S. government would target the church or turn fascist. These fears convinced Jones and other church leaders that the future of their movement lay outside America’s borders.

In 1974, Peoples Temple acquired land in the jungle of Guyana. Since A conveniently English speaking country, Guyana also’s population included a mixture of people of African, Asian, and Amerindian descent, and Jones believed it would be perfect for a multiracial utopia. The church planned to construct an agricultural commune where members could live out their values.

A big wave of Peoples Temple members, including Jim Jones, came in the summer of 1977. As Rebecca Moore wrote in her book Understanding Jonestown and Peoples Temple, these “members believed they were not just deserting something worse but also moving to something better. They set the goal of creating a community without racism, in which all children would be free and equal.”

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What was life like in Jonestown?

 By November 1978, Jonestown’s population had swelled to 1,020. Moore estimated that Jonestown’s largest demographic group were Black women and girls, who made up 45 percent of the population. Black members made up 68 percent of Jonestown’s total population. The commune was also predominately youthful, with 63 percent of the population 35 or younger, and 152 children under the age of 12.

Everyone played a role. Residents acted as cooks, carpenters, and engineers. Teachers delivered student-centered instruction to children, teaching subjects like math, reading, and Guyanese history. Older students participated in apprenticeship programs in the community.

The compound had a generator, dormitory-style cabins, and a communal kitchen. Residents also had access to a library and health center. An audio system enabled Jones to make frequent announcements through a loudspeaker, so his voice was ever present. 

In addition to the mandatory meetings every night, residents participated in different activities, including sports teams, dance and musical arts groups, and movie nights.

Some initially enjoyed their time in Jonestown. “They were bringing in electricity, building beautiful homes where we wouldn’t have to pay rent, all the food we needed, our medical would all be taken care of,” Williams remembers. “It was something that was absolutely amazing. We were safe and secure. A great utopia, the better life, helping each other as one, big, happy family.” 

The end of utopia

Still, Jonestown wasn’t the utopia Jim Jones had promised.

Grace Stoen left Peoples Temple before the building of Jonestown, but she still learned of what was happening there. “I started hearing that people were being badly mistreated. […] Jim was making their lives a complete misery, bullying and controlling them.” 

The man who preached the gospel of equality anointed himself ruler of his kingdom in the jungle. He hoarded everyone’s passports, preventing them from leaving. Residents couldn’t date or break up without his approval. Punishments included social ostracism, and according to witnesses, he bound children in the forest and wrapped a snake around a woman’s leg.

Jones’s paranoia worsened, and he was convinced that soldiers would storm Jonestown. Insisting mass suicide was the only way out, he gathered residents and told them to drink what he said was poison—it wasn’t; it was a test to prove their loyalty, and to prepare them for what was to come. Jonestown residents went along with it because they had performed these suicide drills in California, and these The drills may have desensitized Jonestown residents them to what Moore called a “ritualized” ceremony.

On November 18, 1978, Jones directed the people of Jonestown to act out what they had rehearsed. After a visit from U.S. Rep. Leo Ryan, Jones decided the end times had come. He compelled his congregation to consume a cyanide cocktail. Some may have willingly taken it, but many were likely coerced into the act, perhaps fearing that they would be killed if they refused. Others, including children, were forced to drink it, or it was injected into their bloodstream with syringes. When the commune fell silent, over 900 men, women, and children were dead.