{"id":2660,"date":"2018-04-02T19:58:19","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T19:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/?p=2660"},"modified":"2018-04-02T20:08:52","modified_gmt":"2018-04-02T20:08:52","slug":"jonestown-survivor-to-speak-april-5th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.atu.edu\/library\/2018\/04\/02\/jonestown-survivor-to-speak-april-5th\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonestown Survivor to Speak April 5th"},"content":{"rendered":"

\""Don't<\/a>This Thursday, April 5th, join us for a very special presentation from a survivor of the Jonestown massacre, Laura Johnston.\u00a0 Her lecture, \u201cDon\u2019t Drink the Kool Aid: Advice from a Jonestown Survivor\u201d will take place in RPL 300.\u00a0 A reception will be held at 5:30, with the talk scheduled to begin at 6:00 P.M.\u00a0 She will also sign copies of her book, Jonestown Survivor: An Insider\u2019s Look<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, following the presentation.<\/p>\n

Admission is free and open to the public.\u00a0 The event is hosted by the ATU Department of Behavioral Sciences,<\/a><\/strong> the ATU Department of History and Political Science<\/a>,<\/strong> and the ATU College of Arts and Humanities<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Kohl was one of 87 members of the Peoples Temple who survived the Jonestown massacre in Guyana on Nov. 18, 1978.\u00a0 A total of 918 individuals perished in what was the single largest loss of American civilian life by a deliberate act until Sept. 11, 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a member of Peoples Temple for seven years in California before moving to Guyana,\u201d writes Kohl in her bio. \u201cI lived in Georgetown and Jonestown, Guyana, for another nearly two years.\u00a0 I happened to be in Georgetown with about 80 other survivors when my wonderful friends and adopted family were murdered in Jonestown.\u00a0 It took me 20 years to accept my survival and rebuild my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a bilingual middle school teacher in California, Kohl\u2019s speaking engagements focus on such topics as surviving tragedy, survivors\u2019 guilt, sociology, political science, psychology and the red flags associated with cult dynamics.<\/p>\n

Want to learn more about Jonestown before the lecture? The Ross Pendergraft Library had additional resources on this historical tragedy:<\/p>\n