2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the so-called Scopes “Monkey” Trial. In July 1925 in tiny Dayton, Tennessee, first-year coach and math/physics teacher John Scopes was put on trial for violating Tennessee’s newly passed law criminalizing the teaching of human evolution in public schools. Scopes’s trial became a sensational global news story and stoked a national debate about evolution and who controls the curriculum of public schools. During his trial, Scopes was largely forgotten, as religious leader (and former progressive politician) William Jennings Bryan faced off against famed defense attorney and agnostic Clarence Darrow.
Although Scopes’s conviction was overturned 18 months later, the echoes from the cultural divide exposed at the Scopes Trial continue to reverberate in American society. Come and hear about the famed “Monkey Trial,” the varied fates of its participants, and why the Scopes Trial still matters today.
This event is free and open to the public. Register Now!