“White Couple Adopt.” Indianapolis Recorder, November 18, 1961, p. 1 – Transcript || Annotation || Archive || Back
“Here’s a preacher who practices what he preaches. I’m glad to see things like this done,” said Probate Judge Joseph G. Wood last week in granting adoption of a Negro child by a local white couple.
Judge Wood approved the final adoption, following a probationary period, of a Negro baby boy by Rev. and Mrs. James W. Jones. Rev. Jones is a pastor of the People’s Temple Christian Church and executive secretary of the Mayor’s Human Rights Commission.
The Joneses already have four adopted children, including two of Korean ancestry, plus one of their own. The Negro child has been given the name of James Warren Jones, Jr.
“This just proves that if you have enough love, differences of race and creed don’t matter at all,” Judge Wood continued in warmly praising the Joneses’ action. “I myself live in a neighborhood that has become integrated and I intend to stay there.”