0:01 [SPEAKER_00]: We have heard some bizarre topics here on hometown history, but this case grew into a national debate. 0:08 [SPEAKER_00]: The debate began back in the 1920s, and we still don't have an answer that everybody agrees on. 0:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Welcome back, friend, to hometown history. 0:27 [SPEAKER_00]: In today's episode, we're looking at the scopes monkey trial, which turns out to be a riveting case, orchestrated by just three people in Dayton. 0:37 [SPEAKER_00]: The name is as intriguing as the case. 0:44 [SPEAKER_00]: In the scorching summer of 1925, a peaceful town called Dayton, tucked away in the hills of eastern Tennessee, became the stage for a major legal showdown. 0:57 [SPEAKER_00]: The town surrounded by nature was about to play a big role in a national debate. 1:03 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we moved to what happened in this case, we should get familiar with a law that 1:13 [SPEAKER_00]: The butt-aract was introduced by a person named John Washington Butler, a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives. 1:22 [SPEAKER_00]: It was signed by Tennessee's governor at the time, Austin P. The law basically made it illegal for teachers to say things that went against the genesis story of how humans came to exist on earth. 1:36 [SPEAKER_00]: The approved story was that God created the world, and all living things, 1:45 [SPEAKER_00]: As you might be aware, the Genesis story states that the first human atom was formed from the dust of the ground, and then God breathed life into him. 1:56 [SPEAKER_00]: Later, God created Eve, the first woman, from one of Adam's ribs. 2:03 [SPEAKER_00]: This narrative is often referred to as the creation story, or the account of the divine creation of man, as outlined in the Bible. 2:13 [SPEAKER_00]: It is also a foundational story in many other religious traditions, including Judaism and Islam. 2:21 [SPEAKER_00]: But the Butler Act said teachers couldn't talk about the idea that humans evolved from apes, or discuss any other kind of creation theory. 2:31 [SPEAKER_00]: The only one allowed was the one in the Bible. 2:35 [SPEAKER_00]: If a teacher broke this law, they could be found guilty of a misdemeanor, and find between $100 and $500 each time. 2:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Some say the law didn't exactly stop teachers from talking about evolution, and the law didn't explicitly say anything about teaching the age of the earth or other scientific ideas. 2:57 [SPEAKER_00]: But John Butler wanted to make sure that teachers didn't talk about human evolution at all. 3:03 [SPEAKER_00]: He said he didn't know much about evolution when he introduced the law, but he heard stories of kids saying the Bible was nonsense after learning about evolution in school. 3:15 [SPEAKER_00]: The theory of evolution, of course, is supported by things we see in real life. 3:21 [SPEAKER_00]: One, more things are born than real survive. 3:34 [SPEAKER_00]: three, some traits help living things survive and have offspring more than other things. 3:43 [SPEAKER_00]: And four, these traits can be passed down to the next generation. 3:48 [SPEAKER_00]: Simply put, Darwin proposed that humans share a common ancestry with other primates. 3:55 [SPEAKER_00]: And the differences between humans and other primates can be explained to the same evolutionary process. 4:01 [SPEAKER_00]: He outlined in his earlier work. 4:04 [SPEAKER_00]: which of course completely contradicts what is written in the Bible. 4:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Even Darwin faced criticism for this theory. 4:12 [SPEAKER_00]: So obviously, this was a controversial subject. 4:17 [SPEAKER_00]: It also made John Butler believe that teaching such theories and school would lead children away from God. 4:25 [SPEAKER_00]: So when the Butler Act was implemented, the question on everyone's mind was should schools teach Darwin's evolution theory or genesis story of creation? 4:38 [SPEAKER_00]: This debate sparked a historic trial, and the spotlight fell on a simple teacher named John Thomas Scopes. 4:48 [SPEAKER_00]: John Scopes wasn't ordinary man, living his life peacefully in Dayton, Tennessee. 4:56 [SPEAKER_00]: He was a high school teacher, and in the year 1925 he was summoned by the court for something he taught his students. 5:04 [SPEAKER_00]: Before we go any further though, there is another interesting deviation we must take for this insane story to make sense. 5:13 [SPEAKER_00]: In 1925, the American Civil Liberties Union offered to defend anyone accused of teaching the theory of evolution. 5:23 [SPEAKER_00]: George Rapplia, who is a local manager for the Cumberland Coal and Iron Company, convinced school officials and lawier Suhix that a trial about this issue would bring a lot of attention to Dayton. 5:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Basically, an issue regarding something as sensitive as religion would put this town into the spotlight, so they planned to challenge Butler's law, 5:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Because as it turns out, the law wasn't constantly enforced. 5:57 [SPEAKER_00]: Some schools got away with teaching the subject, while others didn't. 6:03 [SPEAKER_00]: According to Rapplia, if he won, schools around America could teach evolution, and if he lost, he would try to appeal the law anyway. 6:14 [SPEAKER_00]: His exact words to school superintendent Walter White was, 6:21 [SPEAKER_00]: If you win, it will be enforced. 6:25 [SPEAKER_00]: If I win, a law will be repealed. 6:29 [SPEAKER_00]: Or game, aren't we? 6:31 [SPEAKER_00]: It was an exciting and intriguing proposition. 6:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Even though Walter White was against teaching evolution, he couldn't deny the case would bring a ton of publicity. 6:43 [SPEAKER_00]: As it is, the town had fallen on hard economic times, and this would be just the thing to 6:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Walter White, his lawyer Sue Hicks, and George Rapplia saw an opportunity in John T. Scopes, a local biology teacher, to put their plan into action. 7:05 [SPEAKER_00]: After calling him away from a tennis game, the three briefed him on the plan, and Scopes was intrigued to say the least. 7:15 [SPEAKER_00]: It is even a ledge that before the legal proceedings started, scopes encouraged his students to testify against him. 7:23 [SPEAKER_00]: Rapply a strategy led to scopes arrest, under the Butler Law, sparking a legal battle that attracted national attention. 7:33 [SPEAKER_00]: William Jennings Bryan, a prominent fundamentalist, eagerly joined the prosecution team against scopes. 7:42 [SPEAKER_00]: and preparation for the monumental trial, rapidly assault the ACLU's support in New York City, securing financial backing for the defense of scopes. 7:53 [SPEAKER_00]: The involvement of Clarence Darrow, who stepped into defense scopes upon learning Brian was on the prosecution, only elevated the status of this case, setting the stage for a historic legal showdown 8:09 [SPEAKER_00]: John Scopes was officially indicted on May 25th, and charged with violating the Butler Act. 8:17 [SPEAKER_00]: The prosecution was initially led by local attorneys, Herbert E. and Sue Hicks. 8:24 [SPEAKER_00]: But eventually, Tom Stewart became the main prosecutor. 8:29 [SPEAKER_00]: They were supported by Dayton Attorney Gordon McKinsey, who opposed evolution for his own 8:39 [SPEAKER_00]: rappley erote to the British writer H. G. Wells to ask him to join the defense team. 8:45 [SPEAKER_00]: Wells replied, saying he had no legal training and couldn't possibly get involved. 8:52 [SPEAKER_00]: But this wasn't the only card in his deck. 8:55 [SPEAKER_00]: He reached out to Clarence Darrow, who joined the defense team with ACLU attorneys, Arthur Garfield Hayes, Dudley Field Malone, 9:08 [SPEAKER_00]: These names might not sound familiar to you, they might not mean anything to you, but the fact is these names drew global attention and key journalists like H.L. 9:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Mankon covered the entire proceedings. 9:24 [SPEAKER_00]: But things didn't go exactly as you'd expect. 9:29 [SPEAKER_00]: The ACLU, thanks to Darrow, shifted from defending evolution to claiming the theory of evolution is the same as the story in the Bible. 9:40 [SPEAKER_00]: To defend that theory, Darrow wanted to call eight experts to testify. 9:45 [SPEAKER_00]: But Judge Raulston wouldn't allow more than one to show up. 9:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Declaring the other seven could just write their statements and send them in. 9:55 [SPEAKER_00]: Now one noticeable thing was that the presiding judge, John T. Rauston, was already biased, which resulted in multiple clashes between him and Clarence Darrow, who was representing scopes in the right to teach evolution. 10:13 [SPEAKER_00]: So the trial came down to William Bryan, criticizing evolution, and Darrow arguing that the Bible should be in theology, without interfering 10:25 [SPEAKER_00]: The back and forth between these two lawyers was incredible. 10:30 [SPEAKER_00]: The confrontation lasted around two hours, with Darrow interrogating him, on interpreting the Bible literally, which undercut his earlier sweeping religious speeches. 10:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Brian also found himself cornered, and eventually ended up admitting that he didn't know much about science, since the Bible didn't provide any answers. 10:53 [SPEAKER_00]: At one point, Brian criticized the concept of evolution, for suggesting that humans were just won among 35,000 other mammal species, and hated the idea that humans could trace their ancestry, not to American monkeys, but to monkeys of the old world. 11:13 [SPEAKER_00]: His words, not mine. 11:16 [SPEAKER_00]: Darryl countered that by saying the Bible should be used for religious and moral teaching. 11:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Not science. 11:24 [SPEAKER_00]: He argued that the court shouldn't make the trial unfair by not letting important defense witness speak, and that there wouldn't be a real fight because you can't fight against the truth. 11:36 [SPEAKER_00]: It was like a powerful climatic scene from a movie. 11:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Juan Stero was done, the courtroom cheered, and scopes called at the high point of the whole trial. 11:48 [SPEAKER_00]: And suggested Brian's insistence on testifying was probably an attempt to reclaim the respect he had lost. 11:56 [SPEAKER_00]: The confrontation was an important part of the case. 12:00 [SPEAKER_00]: But to nobody's surprise, the judge declared it irrelevant and removed it from the record. 12:05 [SPEAKER_00]: And this frustrated Dara, because after that, he has suggested that to save everyone time. 12:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Scope should just be found guilty, since the judge had already decided how the trial should go. 12:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Daryl also waved his time for a closing statement, and under law, if the defense doesn't provide a closing speech, the prosecution is also barred from summing up its case, which prevented Ryan from giving the grand speech he had planned. 12:37 [SPEAKER_00]: And Daryl's sarcasm wasn't taken well by the judge either. 12:44 [SPEAKER_00]: After an eight-day trial, it took the jury nine minutes to come to a conclusion. 12:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Scopes was found guilty on July 21st, an ordered by Roston to pay a $100 fine. 12:58 [SPEAKER_00]: Roston imposed the fine before Scopes was even given the chance to defend himself. 13:04 [SPEAKER_00]: And after someone brought the error to the judge's attention, Roston gave him the floor. 13:10 [SPEAKER_00]: that was the first and only time, scopes opened his mouth and court. 13:15 [SPEAKER_00]: He said, quote, your honor, I feel that I have been convicted of violating an unjust statue. 13:22 [SPEAKER_00]: I will continue in the future, as I have in the past, to oppose this law in any way I can. 13:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Any other action would be in violation of my idea of academic freedom. 13:35 [SPEAKER_00]: That is to teach the truth as guaranteed in our constitution. 13:40 [SPEAKER_00]: of personal and religious freedom. 13:43 [SPEAKER_00]: I think the fine is unjust." 13:46 [SPEAKER_00]: The statement made no difference and the defense was not ready to accept this decision. 13:53 [SPEAKER_00]: Darrell appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court and challenged the conviction on various grounds. 14:00 [SPEAKER_00]: The court did uphold the Constitutionality, the butthoract. 14:05 [SPEAKER_00]: The decision against Johns 14:10 [SPEAKER_00]: This wasn't really a win for Dero, because the technicality had to do with the imposition of the fine. 14:18 [SPEAKER_00]: According to Tennessee Law at the time, judges were not authorized to set fines exceeding $50. 14:25 [SPEAKER_00]: But the Butler Act, under which scopes was being charged, did have a specified minimum fine of $100. 14:33 [SPEAKER_00]: So it was deemed illegally problematic. 14:37 [SPEAKER_00]: in the Tennessee Supreme Court set aside the conviction on appeal. 14:43 [SPEAKER_00]: And with that, the scoops monkey trial was over. 14:47 [SPEAKER_00]: And all that remained was the discussion. 14:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Should religion really be made to interfere with the learning prospects of children, or is it better to provide them with all alternative explanations and what them decide what they want to believe in. 15:05 [SPEAKER_00]: There obviously isn't a straight answer to this. 15:08 [SPEAKER_00]: It remains to be a matter of perspective. 15:12 [SPEAKER_00]: It is now 99 years later, and we're still debating the same thing. 15:19 [SPEAKER_00]: The trial left a lasting impact on the debate between creationism and evolution in the United States and uncovered a deep divide within American Christianity reflecting two contrasting approaches to understanding truth, a biblical perspective in an evolutionist viewpoint. 15:42 [SPEAKER_00]: Other than that, this trial also fueled the anti-evolution movement 15:47 [SPEAKER_00]: making things really tense in places like Arizona and California. 15:53 [SPEAKER_00]: By 1927, 13 states had considered anti-evolution laws, with Mississippi and Arkansas enacting these laws that outlasted the Butler Act. 16:05 [SPEAKER_00]: This intensity of Christian fundamentalists faded after the trial in William Bryan's death. 16:13 [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't until the late 1970s. 16:15 [SPEAKER_00]: with the rise of the Christian right, that the conservatives regained political power. 16:22 [SPEAKER_00]: These opponents of evolution shifted from overtly religious objections to a more covertly religious stance in the 1960s, known as the creation science movement. 16:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Other than sparking the controversial debates over religion and modernity, there were other consequences of the trial as well. 16:44 [SPEAKER_00]: In the world of science education, the Scopes trial had considerable long-term effects. 16:51 [SPEAKER_00]: Even though the ACLU was involved in the trial, they struggled to find volunteers to challenge the anti-evolution laws until 1965. 17:00 [SPEAKER_00]: Some journalists argue that this trial was the most important factor in influencing the removal of evolution from biology textbooks. 17:12 [SPEAKER_00]: On the other hand, the National Defense Education Act of 1958, supported textbooks emphasizing evolution as the unifying principle of biology. 17:24 [SPEAKER_00]: And to no one surprise, this brought severe backlash towards Texas. 17:30 [SPEAKER_00]: But federal support, legal precedence, and societal trends later would shift public opinion in favor of evolution. 17:39 [SPEAKER_00]: And for that reason, the Butler Act was repealed into the sea in 1967. 17:47 [SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to believe all of this began as a publicity stunt to bring money and attention to a small town in economic decline. 18:01 [SPEAKER_00]: and so Tennessee repealed the Butler Act, and in 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against bands like the Butler Act, stating they violated the First Amendment's establishment cause, which means the government is now prohibited for establishing or promoting any particular religion. 18:21 [SPEAKER_00]: It was up to the public what they wanted to believe in, and no law should be defining it. 18:27 [SPEAKER_00]: Because of the attention it got at the time, the Scope's trial was made into movies, TV shows and even plays. 18:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Like the 1955 play, Inherit the Wind, where the Lawyer's Darrow and Brian are renamed Henry Drummond and Matthew Brady. 18:46 [SPEAKER_00]: The play was not meant to be a historic or account, but a majority of the public accepted it as such. 18:58 [SPEAKER_00]: And there were also television versions in 1965, 1988 and 1999. 19:05 [SPEAKER_00]: Another play called The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial made in 1993 was more historically accurate because the writer drew from original sources and the actual trial transcripts. 19:20 [SPEAKER_00]: It was broadcast on BBC Radio in 2009. 19:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Then there was another movie in 2010 titled, A Ludged, which claims to be an accurate recording to the actual trial transcripts and records. 19:36 [SPEAKER_00]: Later, during the 1960s, the scopes trial started being mentioned in American history textbooks. 19:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Usually portraying it as a conflict between fundamentalists and modernists, 19:50 [SPEAKER_00]: Even recently, produced media content, like the young Sheldon series, discusses evolution verse creationism, even if the scope's trial is not mentioned directly. 20:04 [SPEAKER_00]: So what is the importance of this trial in today's day and age? 20:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Or rather, why is this still a topic of discussion? 20:20 [SPEAKER_00]: and you might think that the debate about evolution is settled. 20:25 [SPEAKER_00]: John Scopes was convicted, and even if the decision was overturned later, it still meant that the court had ruled against evolution. 20:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Later in 1968, the US Supreme Court said evolution could be taught in schools, and that there was no basis for such bands. 20:44 [SPEAKER_00]: The judge had expected that this new decision would nullify all previous ones, and finally put the matter to rest. 20:53 [SPEAKER_00]: But even with evolution being taught in schools, some still want to change it, even today. 21:00 [SPEAKER_00]: In some conservative states, new laws are being suggested, where in teachers can teach the version they believe in. 21:07 [SPEAKER_00]: The law will protect teachers who want to follow their beliefs, and teach what's written in the Bible. 21:14 [SPEAKER_00]: In 2015, a Pew study found that 34% of Americans still don't accept evolution. 21:22 [SPEAKER_00]: So it's safe to say that the Scopes Monkey trial still has no actual resolution. 21:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe in time we will be able to put this debate to rest. 21:34 [SPEAKER_00]: But for now, I think the American school system will continue to be pulled in both directions by those who believe in the Bible and those who believe the Bible should be referenced for morality and not science. 21:49 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening and be sure to follow hometown history for more stories like this.
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