The Peoples Temple During the mid-1950s and early 1960s, the African-American civil rights movement was in its prime. Black men and women were discriminated against and mistreated almost everywhere they went. By human nature, the ideal would be to fit in and be accepted for who you are, not for the color of your skin. This was the perfect time for The Peoples Temple to come into play, which began as a small church with a religious movement, the church gained a huge amount of followers among African Americans. Black men and women felt comfortable joining this church with the main motive of equality. Apparently the People's Temple offered equality and preached socialism and this is what the followers of the movement were looking for. Behind every great movement there is a strong and charismatic leader, The Peoples Temple was founded by Jim Jones who we now know was a very influential individual who abused the obedience and loyalty of his followers (Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple). Jim Jones was born on May 13, 1931 in the town of Crete, Indiana, but grew up in Lynn. From his childhood, people remembered him as a disturbed teenager, obsessed with the idea of ​​death and religion. During his youth, he captured animals and killed them to perform a funeral for fun (Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple). Jones found this amusing, and for some reason, no one took it as an alarm that there might be something wrong with this individual. However, this was not the only alarming action taken by Jones; during his teenage years he showed interest in the Pentecostalist movement and also vandalized their established churches (Metcalf 336). Although... middle of paper... world that possessed all the capabilities that a great and charismatic leader should have, but had a negative mentality that caused the largest mass suicide to date. Works Cited Jonestown: The Life and the Temple of Death of the People. Dir. Stanley Nelson. Firelight Media, 2006. Documentary.Metcalf, Bill. “Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and Jonestown.” Rev. of Salvation and Suicide: Jim Jones, The Peoples Temple and Jonestown, by David Chidester. Utopian Studies June 2005: 335-338. Academic research completed. Network. May 4, 2014.Moore, Rebecca. "The People's Temple". Virginia Commonwealth University College of Humanities and Sciences. Np, June 22, 2012. Web. May 4, 2014. Reiterman, Tim and John Jacobs. Raven: The Untold Story of Reverend Jim Jones and His People. New York: Dutton, 1982. Print.