Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back
Press Release · Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Washington, DC

On Tuesday, October 29, at 7 p.m., the National Archives welcomes Congresswoman Jackie Speier (D-CA) to discuss her book about her personal experience at Jonestown, Guyana: Undaunted: Surviving Jonestown, Summoning Courage, and Fighting Back.

The program is free and open to the public and will be held in the William G. McGowan Theater of the National Archives Museum in Washington, DC. and live streamed on the National Archives YouTube Channel.  Attendees should use the Special Events entrance on Constitution Avenue at 7th Street, NW. Metro accessible on the Yellow and Green lines, Archives/Navy Memorial/Penn Quarter station. Reservations are recommended and can be made online. For those without reservations, seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. The theater doors will open 45 minutes prior to the start of the program. Late seating will not be permitted 20 minutes after the program begins.  A book signing follows the program.

Jackie Speier (D-CA) was 28 when she joined Congressman Leo Ryan’s delegation to rescue defectors from cult leader Jim Jones’s Peoples Temple in Jonestown, Guyana. Ryan was killed on the airstrip tarmac. Jackie was shot five times at point-blank range. While recovering, the choice to survive against unfathomable odds, empowered her with a resolve to become a fearless voice against injustice and inequality in the U.S. Congress. A book signing follows the program.

She represents California’s 14th Congressional District, serves on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and as the Chair of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, where she serves on the Subcommittees on Environment and Government Operations. She is also Co-Chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus, the Congressional Armenian Caucus, the Bipartisan Task Force To End Sexual Violence, and the Gunviolence Prevention Task Force.

This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition: Rightfully Hers: American Women and the Vote, made possible in part by the National Archives Foundation through the generous support of Unilever, Pivotal Ventures, Carl M. Freeman Foundation in honor of Virginia Allen Freeman, AARP, AT&T, Ford Motor Company Fund, Facebook, Barbara Lee Family Foundation Fund at the Boston Foundation, Google, HISTORY ®, and Jacqueline B. Mars. Additional support for National Outreach and Programs provided by Denise Gwyn Ferguson, BMO Financial Group, Hearst Foundations, Maris S. Cuneo Foundation, FedEx, Bernstein Family Foundation, and The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation/Ambassador Fay-Hartog Levin (Ret.).

See related National Archives’ Text Message blog post: Remembering Jonestown 40 Years Later