Peoples Temple and Black Religion in America

The Peoples Temple movement ended on November 18, 1978, when more than
900 men, women, and children died in a ritual of murder and suicide in their
utopianist community of Jonestown, Guyana. Only a handful lived to tell their story.
As is well known, Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, was white, but most of
his followers were black. Despite that, little has been written about Peoples Temple
in the context of black religion in America. In 10 essays, writers 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 Peoples
Temple.