Primary Sources: The American South: Scopes Trial (1925)

An online exhibit providing access to a variety of primary source materials related to the changing American culture in the early 1900s. The site was created by The Ohio State University Harvey Goldberg Center for Excellence in Teaching in the Department of History.

Coverage of The Scopes Trial by H.L. Mencken From The Baltimore Evening Sun, June to September 1925

"The Scopes Trial (sometimes referred to as the Scopes Monkey Trial) was a 1925 legal case which argued whether human evolution could be taught in public schools. A substitute teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, John T. Scopes, was brought to trial for including evolutionary science in his class curriculum. The Scopes Trial was a highly publicized event that brought the conflict between traditionally religious and more modern scientific views to the forefront. This collection of photos, texts, and accounts from the trial help to give a vivid context for the trial itself, as well as the larger issues of science and religion that Scopes’ case brought into question."

"Without a doubt, the question, “where do humans come from?” was asked long before Charles Darwin published Origin of Species in 1859. Yet throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, the debate amongst members of the scientific and religious communities has continued to be a divisive and widely debated topic. The Scopes “Monkey” Trial is perhaps one of the critical events of this controversy and one of the landmark legal decisions of the twentieth century."

Includes excerpts from trial transcripts as well as other information related to the Scopes trial about the teaching of evolution.

Unpublished Photographs from 1925 Tennessee vs. John Scopes "Monkey Trial" Found in Smithsonian Archives