Scopes “Monkey Trial” – 1925
April 25, 2006 — Mary Childs
Have you ever heard anything about the “Scopes Monkey Trial?” It’s an actual trial that took place back in the (hot) summer of 1925 in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee. The book Monkey Town by Ronald Kidd is a fictionalized telling of the events and people involved in that famous trial. The trial was intended to test the Butler Act, passed by the Tennessee General Assembly, forbidding any public school or university to teach the theory of evolution.
Frances Robinson is 15, looking forward to summer, and she has a major crush on her teacher, Mr. Scopes–she calls him John. Frances’ father runs the local drugstore where people gather at the soda fountain to talk and enjoy a “Coca Cola.” Her father is also a major player in the little town of Dayton. He decides they can get some great publicity for the town by getting someone to agree to go on trial for violating the Butler Act by teaching about evolution in a science class. And who do they convince to do this? Yes, Frances’ friend, John Scopes.
That’s when things start to get out of control for the little town of Dayton. The famous lawyers arrive to try the case – William Jennings Bryan for the prosecution and Clarence Darrow for the defense. Famous newspaper journalist H.L. Mencken arrives and the stories he sends back for publication all over the country describe the trial–and the town–as he sees it, which is not usually very good for the people of Dayton. So much for good publicity! Even WGN from Chicago came to set up microphones making that trial the first one in history to be reported live on the radio.
The trial brings up important issues that incite many problems among Frances’ family and friends–issues involving religious beliefs, tolerance of others’ beliefs, and understanding there is more to the world that what is happening in their little town. While this is a fictionalized account of the trial, the author interviewed several people, included Frances herself, from the town of Dayton where they do a Scopes trial reenactment every few years. Not everything happened exactly as the author portrays it in the book, but the major historical elements are there, and it all ties together to be a really exciting, suspenseful story.
Check it out and find out that the Scopes Monkey Trial is all about!
