Jonestown Massacre Essay

He preyed on their need for change and he offered a colorless environment to them before the civil rights movement kicked into full swing. They jumped at the opportunity because it wasn’t being offered anywhere other than Jones’ church, The People’s Temple. Jones pushed an integrated society which is what drew in a large percentage of his following, along with its ability to push prejudices to the side and focus on faith. Catherine Abbott took notice of his recruitment patterns and said, “He brought so many young college kids, so many old black women in, so many people from diverse backgrounds who realized that there was something bigger than themselves.” (Abbott) Not only did Jones have ideas that interested people, but he was just an all-around charismatic man. He was able to make people think that he cared for them and their well-being, he helped people when they needed, and he was just a like-able guy.

The Jonestown Massacre was one of America’s greatest tragedies in history. Due to extreme Racism and persecution innocent people were driven to create a socialistic society only to realize there is no such thing. There are many causes and effects to the event of Jonestown massacre. Some examples of those causes and effects are the background, events, responses, and efforts. Jim Jones and the people of Peoples temple did not set out to be one of america's worst massacres, they just want equality and to escape racism in the U.S. when a leader with a lot of responsibility, lets the power go to his head and it resulted in failure.

With colonists throwing snowballs with shards of ice to colonists laying on the ground and losing blood. 5 colonist deaths and 6 nonfatal injuries that profoundly affected their day-to-day lives. The Boston Massacre was a fatal altercation between a mob of violent protesting colonists and a group of British soldiers protecting themselves. It occurred on the night of March 5th, 1770, a small argument broke out between a few colonists and British Private Hugh White in front of the Custom House in Boston. After a while, more colonists started to gather around creating an agitated mob. Many think that the British were at fault for firing when not given permission, and others think the colonists were at fault for harassing and mocking the

Many people think of the Civil War and America’s Indian wars as distinct subjects, one following the other. But those who study the Sand Creek Massacre know different. On Nov. 29, 1864, as Union armies fought through Virginia and Georgia, Col. John Chivington led some 700 cavalry troops in an unprovoked attack on peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho villagers at Sand Creek in Colorado. They murdered nearly 200 women, children and older men. Sand Creek was one of many assaults on American Indians during the war, from Patrick Edward Connor’s massacre of Shoshone villagers along the Idaho-Utah border at Bear River on Jan. 29, 1863, to the forced removal and incarceration of thousands of Navajo people in 1864 known as the Long Walk. In terms of sheer

During the 1700’s Britain took advantage of the colonies by charging excessive taxes, passing unfair laws, and providing them no representation in Parliament. Many colonists moved to the “new world” to build themselves a better life in the “land of opportunities”. The colonists believed it would be different from living in Britain but what they found was injustice and tyranny. There were colonists that stayed loyal to Britain, known as loyalists, but quite a number were later convinced by Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” pamphlet.

In Jim’s early life he was born in Logan County, Kentucky in April of 1796. When Jim was six years old his family moved to Bayou Boeuf, Louisiana in 1802. In Louisiana, he developed the spirit of adventure. His usual hobby was wrestling alligators and just exploring around the areas he lived by. In 1812 he enlisted in the Louisiana militia after the start of the war in 1812 against the British but he was too late to see any action. Soon he was back in the Louisiana selling timber. But with the money that he earned he bought slaves. Jim later met Jean Lafitte, who was a gulf coast pirate who was involved with illegal slave smuggling. Jim’s brothers bought smuggled slaves and said that they found them and kept the money when they were sold at

Okay, so this article is a little chopped up and missing information, but with what I am given, and some personal knowledge, I can conclude that there was no “things got out of hand” at Wounded Knee. Even if there had been a situation where all of the male adult Sioux people had rebelled against the soldiers, there is no situation where the Sioux men would have willingly endangered that many women and children. In Native American culture it is the men’s job to protect the women and children. The fact that there were that many children and women in the area tells me that the Sioux did not want this to be a violent exchange. The fact that half of the 150 dead were women and children, tells me that the soldiers either carelessly shot into Sioux groups or directly targeted Sioux men, women, and children.

“Prior to the 9/11 attack, the tragedy at Jonestown marked the single largest loss of U.S. civilian lives in a non-natural disaster”(Jonestown Massacre 2). Jim Jones, a cult leader of the Peoples Temple, was responsible for the loss of the 900+ people that died in Guyana on November 18, 1978. Before all of this Jim Jones was a normal man living a life as a preacher who preached against racism. Throughout his life he was very popular by “currying favor with public officials and the media, donated money to numerous charitable causes and delivered votes for various politicians at election times”(History Staff). Jim Jones was a cult leader that preached to 900+ people of the Peoples Temple, made hundreds of people commit suicide, and made history of the biggest loss of U.S. civilians before 9/11.

The Ludlow Massacre of 1914 is one of the bloodiest strike in the American labor history. Historians have debated whether the event was a massacre of innocent lives caused by the Colorado Fuel & Iron (CF&I) or as a battle between the company workers and the company militiamen. The CF&I stated that the event was an act of its workers to demilitarize the company and to prevent importation of “strikebreakers”. However, Thomas Andrews’ Killing for Coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War introduces the concept of workscape in which gives an understanding of the event internally, above the surface and underground the mines of Colorado. Within the book, the operation of Colorado coal companies in capitalizing the coal industry lead to the formation of the mine workscape in which united coal miners underground the mines and above the surface to fight for industrial and political rights. This paper would define the concept of workscape in the definition given by Andrews, and provide evidence of the responsibility of the exploitation of capitalism in forming the mine workscape in the Colorado coal fields between the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Furthermore, the closer inspection of several events that occurred within and outside the grounds of the Colorado coal fields related to labor unrest with the knowledge of the concept of workscape will help understand the culmination of the Ludlow massacre within the larger history of capitalism. A careful investigation of the book and other

At one level, the deaths at Jonestown can be viewed as the product of obedience, of people complying with the orders of a leader and reacting to the threat of force. In the Peoples Temple, whatever Jim Jones commanded, the members did. When he gathered the community at the pavilion and the poison was brought out, the populace was surrounded

The Greensboro Massacre is an event that took place on November 3, 1979 where members of the Communist Workers' Party who participated in a “Death to the Klan” protest were met by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party resulting in the death of 5 CWP protesters. 10 protesters were also injured. After initially viewing the film, I appreciated the fact that the victims in the situation finally received a public declaration that the lives lost were in fact a tragedy. Most people get this sense of security from the indictments and convictions of individuals who committed the crime. Black people haven't had that luxury.

In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Professor Indiana Jones is recruited by the United States government after they intercept Nazi radio transmissions referencing Jones' mentor, Dr. Abner Ravenwood. It is at this time that it is revealed that Dr. Ravenwood was a renowned Ark of the Covenant scholar and that he spent his entire life attempting to find this mythological treasure. Despite Jones' insistence that he agrees to find the treasure before the Nazis get to it simply because of its historic value and states that he does not believe in the supernatural. By the end of the film, Jones' initial beliefs are completely transformed as he witnesses, first-hand, the power of the Ark of the Covenant; after witnessing what the Ark does to the Nazis that wish to use it for their own evil

At one level, the deaths at Jonestown can be viewed as the product of obedience, of people complying with the orders of a leader and reacting to the threat of force. In the Peoples Temple, whatever Jim Jones commanded, the members did. When he gathered the community at the pavilion and the poison was brought out, the populace

One of Jones' long time followers Tim Stoen explained, "There wasn't anything magical about Jim's power. It was raw politics. He was able to deliver what politicians want, which is power. And how do you get power? By votes. And how do you get votes? With people. Jim Jones could produce 3,000 people at a political event.''

The first public challenge to Jones’ leadership of the Temple came in 1972 from the media, which then increased his paranoia that his followers would turn against him. Jones went to greater lengths after being challenged by the media to declare his control by constantly testing his followers. He would organize “white nights”, which required his followers to drink a red liquid which may have contained poison, then Jones would see how many of his followers wouldn’t hesitate to drink the red liquid. Jones was still paranoid and made the decision to move Peoples Temple to Guyana and start a community called Jonestown.