Suffolk University Digital Collections @ Suffolk Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects Student Works 2021 The People of the Peoples Temple Collin Smith Suffolk University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.suffolk.edu/undergrad Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Smith, Collin, "The People of the Peoples Temple" (2021). Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects. 17. https://dc.suffolk.edu/undergrad/17 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Works at Digital Collections @ Suffolk. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Digital Collections @ Suffolk. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. The People of the Peoples Temple Collin Smith HST H 555: Public History Honors Thesis Dr. Kathryn Lasdow, Thesis Advisor April 26, 2021 INTRODUCTION: In 1957, Hyacinth Thrash, a fifty-five-year-old black woman living in Indiana, thought she had found her church. She joined a religious organization in Indianapolis that seemed to be free from racism, with a mission to help the poor and the needy. The church, called the Peoples Temple, was led by a charismatic white man, Jim Jones. From 1956 to 1978, Reverend Jim Jones led the Peoples Temple congregation in Indianapolis, Indiana (1956-1965), then in Ukiah and San Francisco, California (1965-1977), and finally in Jonestown, Guyana (1977-1978). Thrash described the first time her sister, Zipporah, saw the Peoples Temple on television: “She came running in from the other room, shouting, ‘I’ve found my church!’ She saw the integrated choir on TV and Jim standing so handsome, and wanted to go.”1 Zipporah enticed Hyacinth to join her.