The Ten Days that Shook San Francisco: History and Myth

November 1978: a popular religious and civic leader from San Francisco named Jim Jones leads over 900 people—mostly African-Americans and many from San Francisco—to murder and suicide in a remote jungle community of Guyana called Jonestown. Though far from San Francisco, the catastrophe strikes at the heart of the city\u27s public life. Only nine days later, on November 27, ex-police officer and city Supervisor Dan White enters San Francisco City Hall and assassinates Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. These two events—which devastated San Francisco\u27s African-American and gay communities—formed a defining moment in the city\u27s turbulent and ongoing attempt to make itself a beacon of social, political, and sexual freedom