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Jim Jones: Leadership and Tragic Legacy

Jim Jones was the leader of the Peoples Temple who convinced over 900 followers to die by mass suicide and murder in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978. The students researched Jones and the Jonestown tragedy to understand how Jones was able to gain so much influence over his followers and leave such a horrific legacy. They interviewed survivors to learn more about Jones and the events leading up to the mass suicide and murder. The students ultimately created a website to share the story of Jim Jones and the Jonestown tragedy and how it related to the theme of leaders who leave lasting legacies, both positive and negative.

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Alejandra
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72 views1 page

Jim Jones: Leadership and Tragic Legacy

Jim Jones was the leader of the Peoples Temple who convinced over 900 followers to die by mass suicide and murder in Jonestown, Guyana in 1978. The students researched Jones and the Jonestown tragedy to understand how Jones was able to gain so much influence over his followers and leave such a horrific legacy. They interviewed survivors to learn more about Jones and the events leading up to the mass suicide and murder. The students ultimately created a website to share the story of Jim Jones and the Jonestown tragedy and how it related to the theme of leaders who leave lasting legacies, both positive and negative.

Uploaded by

Alejandra
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Dont Drink the Kool-Aid: The Leadership and Legacy of Jim Jones

Take our life from us. We laid it down. We got tired. We didn't commit suicide; we
committed an act of revolutionary suicide protesting the conditions of an inhumane
world. These were the last known words of Reverend Jim Jones.
As we began searching for our topic, it was important that we selected someone
who exemplified the theme, Leaders with Legacies. We researched numerous leaders
who had a tremendous impact on our world, but one influential leader who captured our
attention was Jim Jones. We were unfamiliar with Jim Jones and his legacy. After
investigating a little more, we agreed that the leadership of Jim Jones and the legacy of
Jonestown needed to be explored. The tragic deaths of over 900 men, women, and
children were the largest mass suicide-mass murder in history.
After we had selected our topic, we began our research. We went to a website
called Alternative Considerations of Jonestown and Peoples Temple. It is a website all
about Jonestown and Jim Jones. We went to the local library and requested a
documentary on Jim Jones which included interviews with some of the survivors.
Numerous survivors had published some type of writing about Jonestown and Jim
Jones. We read some publications which really helped us in finding out who Jones truly
was. Fortunately, we were able to contact a few survivors and interview them, which
helped to bring the story alive.
Smothered with valid information, we began to construct our project. Although
our first choice was developing an exhibit board, we realized that exhibit boards were
too common, and after reconsidering and some debating we decided that a website was
the most effective choice to share this catastrophic event. We built our website using
Weebly, a website builder that we found on the National History Day website.
Our topic relates to the theme, Leaders who left a Legacy, because Jim Jones
was a leader who led many people into believing in Christianity and a more hopeful
world. His pure vision of building a utopia on earth enabled him to become the leader of
The Peoples Temple. His legacy, although a tragic one, left more than 900 people
dead, in which 260 were children. His leadership led his blind followers to commit mass
suicide and murder their children. Entire families were stolen, and innocent children
didnt get to live the lives they deserved.
Jim Jones left a tremendous, yet horrible legacy. He was able to lead on an idea
of a better world, but his extent of authority was his own demise. Jonestown had
started in hope and ended in a tragedy as once said by a survivor from the Jonestown
Massacre. We have met people from Jonestown and Peoples Temple and what they
tell us are events that have left a big impression on not only their lives, but many people
around them. The actions of Jim Jones have left a mark that thousands of people will
never forget.

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