The Scopes Monkey Trial

The Tennessee evolution trial has been called one of the most famous trials in history. For about a week in the summer of 1925, the small farming city of Dayton in Rhea County held the attention of the nation. A young science teacher named John T. Scopes became a celebrity. But what made this small, simple, criminal misdemeanor trial so important? This incident wasn’t the first time the evolution theory had caused controversy. Like so many thing in life, there is more than one answer to this question. 

To understand the trial, one must first understand the people and circumstances surrounding it. An important figure in this ordeal was John Thomas Scopes. His father immigrated to America from England in 1883 carrying a Bible and The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. He worked on Midwestern railroads and was a friend of leading Socialist Eugene Debs. He was agnostic and his only son and fifth child, John, would later follow in his footsteps [1]. 

John Scopes went to high school in Salem, Ill., where evolution was freely accepted and taught. He fully realized his agnosticism during his senior year while he attended a bible class. He figured that there should be some coherence between what a man does and what he preaches. He didn’t find this attitude in his teacher, who partied in Chicago on the weekends. Scopes was also disturbed by the fact that girls in his town were paid unreasonably low wages and that this, in many ways, might have a connection to the increase in prostitution in Salem. When he disclosed this information in class, he was kindly asked to seek out other churches. He didn’t. 

Scopes attended the University of Illinois and then transferred to the University of Kentucky. He was taught Darwin’s theory there and figured it was a normal part of any science education. After graduating, he was offered a job teaching science and coaching sports in Dayton, Tenn., and became a well-liked member of the community [2].