Mennonites in Black

Not everyone wants a new iPhone.


James Rhodes and his wife Mary Ethel are Old Order Mennonites, born and raised near the farm town of Dayton, Virginia. Like the Amish, the “Plain People” favor church and community over modern technology, and consider plainness of dress and speech to be virtues. This photo essay illustrates some of the joys and challenges of daily life for the Rhodes family.

Old Order Mennonites James and Mary Ethel Rhodes are raising eight children to eschew modern technology. They believe in living off the land and being self-sustaining.
 

Mary Ethel Rhodes sweeps outside an Old Order Mennonite church.
 

Clothes are often washed in an old-fashioned wringer washer and hung on a clothesline to dry.
 

Jesse and Glenn Rhodes play in the dirt as their sisters look on.
 

Farming is a primary occupation for Old Order Mennonites, because it allows the family to work together as a unit without too many worldly distractions.
 

Marlena Rhodes sits as her mother braids her hair for church. Young girls wear their uncut hair in two long braids until they are 12 or 13 years old, when they are allowed a single braid.
 

James Rhodes looks over his son’s schoolwork during a visit to the Mennonite school. The school has two classrooms: One holds grades 1-4, the other, grades 5-8.
 

Three Old Order Mennonite girls talk in a field at sunset.
 

Old Order Mennonite youth play ball.
 

Jesse Rhodes rides his scooter around the basement while his sister, Janet, and mother, Mary Ethel, do their daily chores.
 

Mary Ethel Rhodes prepares grapes for use in grape juice and grape pie. Most Old Order Mennonites rely on the harvest from their large gardens to feed them throughout the winter.
 

At breakfast, James Rhodes spends a moment with his 4-year-old son, Jesse. Meals together are among the most important events in the day of an Old Order Mennonite family. Before eating, the food is always blessed with a prayer. After eating, many families also give thanks to God.

 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate