May 5, 1925: High school teacher John T. Scopes is arrested in Dayton, TN for teaching evolution

[Dennis Donovan]

‪100 years ago news‬
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
3h
May 5, 1925: High school teacher John T. Scopes is arrested in Dayton, Tenn., for violating the state's new law against teaching evolution. The young educator has volunteered to be put on trial as a way to test the law's constitutionality—and create publicity for the town. 1/8


‪100 years ago news‬
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
3h
The day before, the Chattanooga Times ran an article stating the American Civil Liberties Union would pay court costs for any teacher willing to defy the anti-evolution law. The ACLU envisions a conviction, then an appeal to higher courts challenging the statute. 2/8



‪100 years ago news‬
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
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Reading the notice is a Dayton mine manager, George Rappleyea, who has been vocal in his opposition to the evolution ban. He sees an opportunity—both to fight the law and to stage a court spectacle that will draw the nation's attention to Dayton. 3/4


‪100 years ago news‬
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
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Taking the ACLU ad with him, Rappleyea heads to a soda fountain that serves as a hub for Dayton's civic elite. He pitches the idea to officials, both pro- and anti-evolution, who like it. The school superintendent suggests Scopes, a biology teacher, as a likely volunteer. 4/8


‪100 years ago news‬
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
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"John, we've been arguing," Rappleyea tells Scopes, according to the teacher's later account, "and I said that nobody could teach biology without teaching evolution." Scopes agrees, offering that he has been using a textbook that outlines Darwin's theories. 5/8



‪100 years ago news‬
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
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"You have been teaching 'em this book?" Rappleyea says.
"Yes," Scopes says.
"Then you've been violating the law."
Another Daytonian, the school board chair, tells Scopes of the ACLU offer: "Would you be willing to stand for a test case?" Yes, Scopes says. 6/8

‪100 years ago news‬
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
3h
Rappleyea phones for a justice of the peace, swears out a warrant against Scopes and wires the ACLU in New York about the charge. A state senator calls the local stringer for the Chattanooga News and tells him, "Something has happened that's going to put Dayton on the map!" 7/8



‪100 years ago news‬
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
3h
"Scopes presented an ideal defendant for the test case," Edward Larson has written in his history of the trial. He "looked the part of an earnest young teacher, complete with horn-rimmed glasses and a boyish face that made him appear academic but not threatening." 8/8

100 years ago news
‪@100yearsagonews.bsky.social‬
Coverage of the Scopes case will continue as it heads toward trial in July. The above account comes largely from Larson's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Summer for the Gods:"
buff.ly/ZFTfr1Z
May 5, 2025 at 12:23 PM

Coverage of the Scopes case will continue as it heads toward trial in July. The above account comes largely from Larson's Pulitzer Prize-winning "Summer for the Gods:"
buff.ly/ZFTfr1Z

— 100 years ago news (@100yearsagonews.bsky.social) 2025-05-05T16:23:56.760Z