Peoples Forum, Vol. I, No. 17, March 1, 1977. Published by Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, San Francisco, CA. First edition, broadsheet format, one folded sheet, four pages printed on newsprint. GOOD CONDITION: tender at the folds with tiny chips/wear, some edge tears/wear, and light age toning, otherwise bright and clean. Scarce.

In April 1976, Jim Jones' Peoples Temple launched Peoples Forum. Distributed on the street by Temple volunteers and dropped on doorsteps throughout San Francisco, it served as the Temple's monthly newspaper and main source of promotion and communication. The header shows three faces of different races, civil rights related imagery Jones used to advertise his interracial religious movement.

Jones' increasing radicalism and connection to the civil rights movement became apparent with the Peoples Forum. While early issues contain articles on "subjects as diverse as killer bees, Muhammed Ali, freedom of the press, and Jones hosting a TV show," later editions are more radical, illustrating Jones' support for Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party. In late 1976 Peoples Forum covered a story about the FBI's role in the death of Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton. The cover photo from this March 1, 1977 edition shows Jones and Newton shaking hands. Peoples Forum exemplifies the increasing involvement Peoples Temple had in California with Black rights leaders, racial issues, and activism. Additionally, Peoples Forum denounced and exposed the rising dangers of neo Nazism in San Francisco.

Jim Jones' Peoples Temple is notorious for the way it ended in on November 18, 1978 with more than 900 people dying in a mass murder suicide at the Peoples Temple Settlement in Jonestown, Guyana. The majority of the Jonestown massacre victims were black women.