The Scopes Monkey Trial

The 1925 case against high school coach and science teacher John Scopes, arrested for teaching evolution in defiance of a Tennessee state law, was America’s original Trial of the Century. The proceedings began as a publicity stunt but grew into a landmark event in the nation’s history. The trial featured three-time presidential candidate and fundamentalist leader William Jennings Bryan, who argued on behalf of the prosecution, and famed agnostic attorney Clarence Darrow, who helped defend Scopes. Although the Scopes case produced no legal precedent, the trial has been analyzed by historians, praised and vilified by politicians and preachers, cited in countless legal, political, and theological skirmishes, and retold in plays, movies, museum exhibits, and television documentaries. Images of America: The Scopes Monkey Trial examines the events that captured the attention of the world and still have much to teach us today.