July 10, 1925, John Thomas Scopes is put on trial for teaching his high school biology class Darwin's theory of evolution in violation of a law passed that March. So begins the Monkey Trial. Rows of preachers are set up outside the courthouse inciting the faithful. Vendors too have erected tents selling everything from hot dogs to bibles and toy monkeys.
Inside the courthouse prosecuting against Scopes is Williams Jennings Bryan, a reputable fundamentalist and strong believer in the literal interpretation of the bible. Defending Scopes is Clarence Seward Darrow, a lawyer who has come to discredit Bryan's beliefs and the fundamentalist ideology.
The defense starts poorly with their expert witnesses on evolution denied on the grounds that it was Scopes on trial, not the law he violated. Bryan continues to argue in favor of the fundamentalist view seeing this as an opportunity to further his view's standing in the religious community.
On day two the judge takes the trial outside onto the courthouse lawn. Surrounded by thousands of spectators, news reporters, and radio stations broadcasting live to all of America, Darrow calls Bryan himself to the stand. Bryan, despite having spent his life reading and interpreting the bible, was not prepared for Darrow's interrogation. Bryan is made to stumble over phrases, contradict himself, and look like a fool in front of all of America. He even suggests the possibility of evolution taking place, the very idea he came to argue against.
It is at this point that Darrow delivers the final blow: one large, passive aggressive toast emoji. It is this act that cements the toast emoji into American history as a renown symbol of crunchy gluten defeat.
While Darrow's humiliation of Bryan and his fundamentalist beliefs certainly helped to discredit the bible's literal interpretation, his performance in court did little to change America's views on religion. Evolutionary theory was still illegal in most states and fundamentalists continued to believe in the bible's word despite the evidence around them.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/monkey-trial-begins
https://www.wired.com/2011/07/0721scopes-evolution-trial-guilty-verdict/
I really like your analysis of this interesting event. Darrow's genius plan to get Bryan to testify and say something that went against his Fundamentalist ideals was able to get him national publicity (due to it being nationally broadcasted on the radio). Even though the trial record was erased by the judge, the American public heard what they needed to hear to know who won the trial.
ReplyDeletehttps://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/111scopes.html
Yes, and one thing I was wondering about was exactly how large the scope of American public listening into the trial was. In 1925, 5,000,000, or 19 percent of homes, had a radio receivers, and the number of people who were estimated to be listening into broadcasts was 20,000,000. The WGN network broadcast the trial, and they even had an announcer covering the trial. Telegraphs also sent out the record through their lines, and was even transmitted to the British. The trial was truly less about Scopes himself, but instead a trial for publicity.
DeleteLarson, Edward J. (2004), Evolution, Modern Library, ISBN 978-0-679-64288-6
http://lcweb2.loc.gov:8081/ammem/amrlhtml/inradio.html