The Scopes Trial


 

The Scopes Trial and the Debate Over Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species

 

Anti-Evolution League Protestors at the Scopes Trial

 

Anti-Evolution League at the Scopes Trial



 Link to Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution


Documents and Teaching Materials on the Scopes Trial from the National History Education Clearinghouse.

 

 

  Play the game, Who Wants to Live a Million Years? that explores Darwin's theory of natural selection.

John R. Neal, Jr. & John T. Scopes, at Scopes Trial,1925
John R. Neal, Jr. & John T. Scopes, at Scopes Trial, 1925

 

Event Summary

 

During the 1920’s, White Protestant Fundamentalists spent much of their energy combating Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution.

 

 


In 1914, public high school textbooks stared to include the theory of evolution.

 

 


In 1925, Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which outlawed the teaching of evolution.

 

 

 

 

 

 

William Jennings Bryan (seated at left) being interrogated by Clarence Darrow, July 20, 1925

 


Click here to read Clarence Darrow's Examination of William Jennings Bryan

 


For more on the Scopes Trial, including a video on the issues, go to the PBS Online Web site:

To read and hear a podcast of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species summarized and updated by geneticist Steve Jones in New Scientist Magazine.

Tennessee v. John Scopes (1925)

 

Spencer Tracy & Fredric March in the movie Inherit the Wind

 

Spencer Tracy &  Fredric March
The 1960s film, Inherit the Wind dramatized the central arguments at the center of the Scopes-Monkey Trial.

 


Click here for an overview and resources on the Scopes Trial