Making a Monkey Out of Her Again Scopes Trail

Rhea County Courthouse in Dayton, Tenn., as it appeared in 1925 at the time of the Scopes trial. Bryan College Archives hide explanation

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A famous orator, William Jennings Bryan was 65 when he joined the prosecution team in the Scopes trial. Bryan was a a leading fundamentalist, traveling widely to warn against "the menace of Darwinism." Bryan College Athenaeum hide caption

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Clarence Darrow was 68 when he agreed to human action every bit John Scopes' defence force attorney. At the time, he was the most famous criminal defense lawyer in the country, and a very popular public speaker. His favorite topic was anticlericalism. Bryan Higher Archives hide caption

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Bryan Higher Archives

The Scopes trial was as much well-nigh spectacle as information technology was well-nigh the clash of scientific discipline and organized religion. Among those in attendance was a chimpanzee motion picture performer named Joe Mendi. Journalist H.L. Mencken dubbed Dayton "monkeytown." Bryan College Athenaeum hibernate explanation

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Despite the hopes of organizers, the trial didn't describe tourists. But locals turned out in droves. Higher up, girls from the Dayton area display monkey doll souvenirs at the courthouse. Bryan College Archives hide caption

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The Scopes trial besides inspired music. The excerpt below is from the vocal "The John T. Scopes Trial," past recording artist Vernon Dalhart:

From left: Defense attorney Dudley Field Malone, District Attorney General Tom Stewart, William Jennings Bryan, and Judge John Raulston, seen shaking easily with Clarence Darrow. Notation the WGN microphone. This was the beginning U.S. trial broadcast alive over a national radio network.

A cameraman (far right) captures Bryan and Darrow conferring during the trial. Members of the press were seated inside the bar in the courtroom. Bryan College Athenaeum hide caption

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Defense attorney Darrow cross-examines Bryan, trying to get him to acknowledge the bible is open to interpretation. One of the most famous scenes in American legal history, it took place on the courthouse lawn due to the summer heat. Bryan Higher Athenaeum hide caption

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Defense force attorney Darrow cross-examines Bryan, trying to become him to admit the bible is open to interpretation. One of the most famous scenes in American legal history, it took identify on the courthouse backyard due to the summertime rut.

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From left: Defense lawyer Dudley Field Malone; prosecutors Gordon McKenzie, Wallace Haggard, Herb Hicks; and District Attorney Full general Tom Steward. Seated under the WGN microphone is H.L. Mencken, who covered the trial for the Baltimore Lord's day. hide caption

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From left: John Scopes, defense attorney Dr. John R. Neal, and George Rappleyea, director of the Cumberland Coal and Iron Co. and one of the original organizers of events leading up to the trial. Bryan College Archives hide explanation

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From left: John Scopes, defence force chaser Dr. John R. Neal, and George Rappleyea, manager of the Cumberland Coal and Fe Co. and 1 of the original organizers of events leading up to the trial.

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Bryan addresses the court. He died in Dayton five days after the trial ended. Bryan College Archives hide explanation

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Darrow addresses the jury. Bryan College Archives hide caption

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Darrow addresses the jury.

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Dayton teacher and football coach John Scopes, seen here during sentencing, was fined $100 on July 21, 1925. Both Bryan and the ACLU offer to pay it for him. Bryan College Athenaeum hide caption

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People in Dayton nonetheless talk nigh the Scopes trial. Dayton-area farmer O.West. Wooden calls information technology "something else": "Trying to tell y'all people come from monkeys and all that stuff. Couldn't be right! Monkeys to me, similar a chicken, yous know? People is people." Noah Adams, NPR hibernate caption

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Noah Adams, NPR

Eloise Reed, now 92, was 12 at the time of the trial. Noah Adams, NPR hide caption

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Ed Larson, author of Summertime for the Gods, a Pulitzer Prize-winning book nigh the Scopes trial, says defence lawyer Darrow was the Thomas Paine of his day. Noah Adams, NPR hide caption

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Noah Adams, NPR

The Scopes trial was not the only fourth dimension that the origins of Earth and humanity were debated in court. In 1981, Arkansas passed a police force requiring public schools to give "balanced treatment" of creationism and evolution. Read an essay most the federal court trial there by a former paper reporter who covered it.

Fourscore years ago, in July 1925, the mixture of religion, science and the public schools caught fire in Dayton, Tenn. The Scopes trial — or "Monkey Trial," as it was called — dominated headlines across the land. The trial lasted just a week, but the questions it raised are as divisive at present as they were back so. NPR looks dorsum at the Scopes trial, the events that led upwards to it and its aftermath:

1859 – Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species is published. Darwin argues in his introduction that "the view which most naturalists entertain, and which I formerly entertained — namely, that each species has been independently created — is erroneous."

1871 – Darwin publishes his 2nd book, The Descent of Man. In this piece of work, Darwin directly addresses the debate over the origin of mankind, arguing that "human is descended from a hairy, tailed quadruped, probably arboreal in its habits, and an inhabitant of the Old World."

1914 – George William Hunter's A Civic Biological science, the volume that is subsequently used in biology courses in Dayton, Tenn., is published. A Civic Biological science describes evolution as "the belief that simple forms of life on the earth slowly and gradually gave ascent to those more complex and that thus ultimately the nigh complex forms came into existence."

1921 – Onetime congressman and ex-Secretary of Land William Jennings Bryan becomes a leader in the anti-development move, delivering speeches entitled "The Menace of Darwinism" and "The Bible and its Enemies." Bryan declares in ane accost that "[i]t is better to trust in the Rock of Ages, than to know the age of the rocks; information technology is improve for one to know that he is shut to the Heavenly Begetter, than to know how far the stars in the heavens are apart."

1924 – Bryan delivers a lecture in Nashville entitled "Is the Bible true?" Copies of the spoken communication are delivered to members of the Tennessee legislature, including Rep. John Washington Butler.

January. 21, 1925 – Rep. Butler introduces legislation in the Tennessee House of Representatives calling for a ban on the teaching of evolution. The proposed constabulary, known every bit the Butler neb, would prohibit the instruction of "whatsoever theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man equally taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower social club of animals."

Jan. 27, 1925 – The Tennessee House of Representatives approves the Butler beak on a 71-to-5 vote.

March xiii, 1925 – After several hours of heated argue, the Tennessee Senate approves the Butler beak 24 to half-dozen.

March 21, 1925 – Tennessee Gov. Austin Peay signs the Butler pecker into police. The new law is the first in the United states of america to ban the educational activity of evolution.

May 4, 1925 – A Chattanooga paper runs an detail noting that the American Civil Liberties Spousal relationship is seeking teachers willing to challenge the Butler police. The detail says that the ACLU is "looking for a Tennessee instructor who is willing to accept our services in testing this law in the courts. Our lawyers think a friendly exam example can be arranged without costing a teacher his or her chore... All nosotros demand at present is a willing customer."

May five, 1925 – A group of boondocks leaders in Dayton, Tenn., read the news particular virtually the ACLU's search. They quickly hatch a program to bring the case to Dayton, a scheme that they hope will generate publicity and jump-start the town's economic system. They enquire 24-yr-old science instructor and football coach John Thomas Scopes if he'd be willing to be indicted to bring the case to trial. Scopes agrees, even though he has merely taught biology as a substitute teacher and later says he isn't certain he covered development in his classes.

May 12, 1925 – Bryan agrees to participate in the trial on the side of the prosecution, ensuring that the case will receive significant national interest. Several days subsequently, well-known attorneys Clarence Darrow and Dudley Field Malone announce their interest in representing Scopes.

May 25, 1925 – Scopes is indicted by a grand jury for violating Tennessee's anti-evolution constabulary.

May-July, 1925 – Preparations brainstorm in Dayton for an expected onslaught of trial-related publicity. Vi blocks of Dayton's principal road are transformed into a pedestrian mall; a speaker's platform is built on the lawn of the courthouse; and a tourist camp is constructed. The courtroom is outfitted with the latest technology to transmit the story to the globe: telegraph and phone wiring, movie-newsreel camera platforms and radio microphones. WGN Radio broadcasts the trial live at a cost of more than $1,000 a day merely for phone lines — the first such broadcast of its kind.

July 10, 1925 – The trial begins with jury selection. Judge John Raulston asks the Rev. Lemuel M. Cartright to open the proceedings with a prayer.

July 13, 1925 – In an effort to accept the Butler law declared unconstitutional, defense attorney Clarence Darrow delivers a long, peppery speech arguing that the law violates freedom of religion. Darrow argues that "we observe today as brazen and as assuming an endeavor to destroy learning as was ever made in the Centre Ages."

July 14, 1925 – In the 3rd twenty-four hours of the trial, Darrow objects to the practice of opening the trial with a prayer. Judge Raulston overrules the objection, noting that he has instructed the ministers who offer the prayer to "brand no reference to the issues involved in this instance."

July xv, 1925 – Judge Raulston overrules the defense force's movement to have the Butler police force alleged unconstitutional. Raulston says in his ruling that the law "gives no preference to whatsoever particular organized religion or mode of worship. Our public schools are non maintained as places of worship, but, on the contrary, were designed, instituted, and are maintained for the purpose of mental and moral development and discipline."

In an afternoon session that day, a not guilty plea is entered on Scopes' behalf. Each side presents its opening statements. The prosecution questions the superintendent of schools and ii of Scopes' students, who testify that Scopes taught his form about evolution. The defense force questions zoologist Maynard Metcalf, who testifies that evolution is a widely embraced theory in the scientific community.

July 17, 1925 – Judge Raulston rules in favor of a motion past prosecutors to bar skilful testimony by scientists. Raulston argues that the experts' opinions on evolutionary theory would "shed no light" on the issue at paw in the trial — whether Scopes violated the land's anti-evolution laws. Many reporters get out town, believing that the trial is effectively over. Scopes is recruited to write news stories on the trial for some of the delinquent journalists.

July 20, 1925 – With the proceedings taking place outdoors due to the heat, the defense — in a highly unusual movement — calls Bryan to prove every bit a biblical adept. Clarence Darrow asks Bryan a series of questions about whether the Bible should be interpreted literally. As the questioning continues, Bryan accuses Darrow of making a "slur at the Bible," while Darrow mocks Bryan for "fool ideas that no intelligent Christian on earth believes."

July 21, 1925 – The last twenty-four hours of the trial opens with Judge Raulston'south ruling that Bryan cannot return to the stand and that his testimony should be expunged from the record. Raulston declares that Bryan's testimony "tin shed no light upon any bug that will be awaiting before the higher courts." Darrow then asks the court to bring in the jury and detect Scopes guilty — a move that would let a higher court to consider an entreatment. The jury returns its guilty verdict after ix minutes of deliberation. Scopes is fined $100, which both Bryan and the ACLU offer to pay for him.

Subsequently the verdict is read, John Scopes delivers his only statement of the trial, declaring his intent "to oppose this police in any way I can. Any other activeness would exist in violation of my ideal of academic freedom — that is, to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution, of personal and religious freedom."

July 26, 1925 – Five days afterwards the Scopes trial ends, Bryan dies in his sleep in Dayton.

July 31, 1925 – Bryan is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The words "He Kept the Organized religion" are inscribed on his tombstone.

1926 – Mississippi becomes the 2nd land to pass a law banning the teaching of evolution in public schools.

May 31, 1926 – The appeal hearing in the Scopes case begins.

January. 15, 1927 – The Tennessee Supreme Court rules that the Butler police force is constitutional. Even so, it overturns Scopes' verdict on a technicality, ruling that his fine should accept been prepare past the jury hearing the case instead of by Judge Raulston. The justices declare in their ruling that "[due north]othing is to be gained by prolonging the life of this bizarre instance."

1927 – George William Hunter publishes A New Borough Biology, an updated version of the biology book used in the Dayton high schoolhouse where Scopes taught. The new text deals with the concept of evolution cautiously and avoids explicitly naming the theory.

1928 – A third state, Arkansas, enacts legislation banning instruction on development.

1930 – The William Jennings Bryan Memorial University opens in Dayton, Tenn. Known today as Bryan Higher, the institution describes itself as "a highly ranked, nationally competitive college that puts Christ above all."

March 13, 1938 – Clarence Darrow dies at the historic period of 80.

Jan. 10, 1955 – The play Inherit the Wind, which is loosely based on the Scopes trial, opens on Broadway.

1960 – Thirty-five years later the Scopes trial, the motion picture version of Inherit the Air current opens at a drive-in movie theater in Dayton. Scopes returns to the boondocks for the premiere and is given the central to the urban center.

May 17, 1967 – Tennessee repeals the Butler Act, the law that banned the educational activity of evolution in public schools.

1967 – John Scopes publishes Center of the Storm, his memoir of the trial.

1968 – In Epperson five. Arkansas, the Supreme Courtroom strikes down an Arkansas law banning the instruction of evolution.

Oct. 21, 1970 – John Scopes dies at the age of 70.

1973 – Tennessee becomes the starting time state in the United states of america to pass a constabulary requiring that public schools give equal accent to "the Genesis account in the Bible" along with other theories near the origins of man. The bill also requires a disclaimer be used any time evolution is presented or discussed in public schools. It demands development be taught as theory and non fact.

1975 – Ii years after it is passed, Tennessee'southward "equal time" police force is declared unconstitutional by a federal appeals court.

1977 – The National Park Service designates Rhea Canton Courthouse in Dayton a National Celebrated Landmark.

1982 — In McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education, a U.Southward. commune judge strikes down an Arkansas police that required public schools to requite "balanced treatment" to evolution and creationism whenever either was taught.

1987 – In Edwards v. Aguillard, the Supreme Court rules that a Louisiana law requiring public schools to give "balanced treatment" to creationism and evolution is unconstitutional.

2005 – Schoolhouse boards and legislatures beyond the country are standing to debate how to teach students most the origins of life on Earth. Policymakers in at least sixteen states are currently examining the controversy.

Noah Adams' radio story was produced by NPR's Anne Hawke.

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Source: https://www.npr.org/2005/07/05/4723956/timeline-remembering-the-scopes-monkey-trial

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