This story originally ran in 2009.
In 1955, about 20 members of the Laurel Street Tabernacle joined with Jones to form the Wings of Deliverance church as a successor to his Community Unity church. This new church, located on North New Jersey and 15th streets, would be christened the “Peoples Temple.” The inspiration for the church’s name is based on the fact that the building was formerly a Jewish synagogue, or “temple,” that Jones had purchased, with almost no money down, for $50,000. The church was formed in part to further Jones’ beliefs in racial diversity. It did not take long for large crowds to come and fill the place up.
Jim’s reputation grew, in large part, due to his apparent ability as a hands on healer of the sick and injured, which lead to a radio show on WIBC. While his radio sermons did wonders for church attendance, his superiors did not approve of the skin color the new members flocking towards the Peoples Temple.
Regardless, Indianapolis Democratic Mayor Charley Boswell appointed Jim to the city’s Human Rights Commission in 1959. Jones ignored the mayor’s advice to keep a low profile, espousing his controversial views on local radio and TV. When the mayor and other commissioners asked Jones to curtail his public actions, Jones resisted and was wildly cheered at a meeting of the NAACP and Urban League when he yelled for his audience to be even more vocal and militant.
The Peoples Temple then founded social services all over Indianapolis, giving the new church a chance to promote its liberal idea of a social gospel and to help focus city officials on the problem of poverty. In 1959, Jones set up an orphanage adoption fund to closely mimic his own “rainbow family.” Jim and his wife Marceline adopted children of different races and cultures as their own children. The Peoples Temple opened a free restaurant and social service center in the church building’s basement. The restaurant opened its doors in 1960 and it became a huge success, known to give out thousands of meals every month to the homeless of the city. During this time, Jones’ activism helped to integrate churches, restaurants, theaters, amusement parks, hospitals, and the telephone company and police department.
Due in part to Jones’ outspoken social activism, the members of his Peoples Temple church experienced harassment and violent threats. Jones received considerable criticism in conservative Indiana for his integrationist views. White owned businesses and locals were critical of Rev, Jones and the Peoples Temple congregation. With all this pressure from the community around him, Jones took it upon himself to find a new place for his family and his congregation. In 1962, Jones went on vacation in British Guyana on the northeast coast of South America as a site for a possible pilgrimage. In 1964, the hostile environment he was experiencing in his home state caused Jones and his Peoples Temple to move to San Francisco.
If anyone were to pay close attention to Jones’ tactics and rhetoric during the time spent in Indianapolis, they could have plainly seen the psychosis that was developing day by day. It has long been suspected that Jones himself may have been involved in many of the racial crimes at Temple as a way to bring the media attention he so desperately craved. It’s been claimed by former church members that Jones used real chicken livers as fake tumors he would remove while healing Peoples Temple parishioners during his healing sessions.
Despite his later delusional escapades, it cannot be denied that Rev. Jones was one of the pioneers of the civil rights movement in Indianapolis. The Joneses were the first white couple in Indiana to adopt an African-American child. They also adopted three Korean children, a white child and one Native American child. The Joneses had only one biological child. He became famous for leading his racially diverse flock to previously segregated businesses in the city and persuading the owners to expend their “Whites only” policy by the carefully planned and scripted repeated arrival of several hundred multiracial customers. This non-violent form of forced integration proved to be financially beneficial to the store owners.
Al Hunter is the author of the “Haunted Indianapolis” and co-author of the “Haunted Irvington” and “Indiana National Road” book series. His newest books are “Bumps in the Night. Stories from the Weekly View,” “Irvington Haunts. The Tour Guide,” and “The Mystery of the H.H. Holmes Collection.” Contact Al directly at Huntvault@aol.com or become a friend on Facebook.
