John Thomas Scopes, educator known
for his defense of Darwinism in the classroom, was born in Paducah, Kentucky, on
August 3, 1900, to Thomas and Mary Scopes. In 1911 he moved with his parents to
Salem, Illinois, and he later attended the University of Illinois. He
transferred to the University of
Kentucky as a sophomore in 1921, graduating with an A.B. in 1924.
Scopes taught general science for one year at Rhea County Central High School
in Dayton, Tennessee. While substituting for a biology teacher there, he tested
the state's Butler Act by expanding upon Charles Darwin's theory of
evolution in the classroom. For this he was arrested and tried.
The eleven-day trial, which began on
July 10, 1925, in the Rhea County courthouse, became famous as the Monkey
Trial. Clarence Darrow was hired by the American Civil Liberties Union to
defend Scopes against the prosecuting attorney, William Jennings Bryan. The
trial bore upon the issues of academic freedom, separation of church and state,
and the power and influence of fundamental Christianity. Scopes was found
guilty and fined $100. In 1955 a successful Broadway play and subsequent movie,
Inherit The Wind, revived interest in the trial. Scopes described the
experience in Center Of The Storm (1967).
After the trial, Scopes studied
geology at the University of Chicago, then worked briefly for Gulf Oil of South
America. In 1932 he returned to Paducah. He was defeated
when he ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Socialist
ticket. He began work for the United Gas Company in Texas and Louisiana in
1933, retiring in 1964. On February 13, 1970, Scopes returned to the University of Kentucky to
address the Societus Pro Legibus.
Scopes married Margaret Walker; they
had two sons, William C. and John, Jr. Scopes died of cancer in Shreveport,
Louisiana, on October 21, 1970, and was buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery in Paducah.
Selected Sources from UK Libraries:
Mencken, H. (2006). A religious orgy in
Tennessee : A reporter's account of the Scopes monkey trial. Hoboken, N.J.:
Melville House Pub.
Special
Collections Research Center Spec Coll Research Center - Room 019
KF224.S3 M46 2006
Lienesch, M. (2007). In the beginning :
Fundamentalism, the Scopes trial, and the making of the antievolution movement (H.
Eugene and Lillian Youngs Lehman series). Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press.
Young
Library Books - 3rd Floor BT712 .L54 2007
Tracy, S., March, F., Lawrence, J., Lee, R.,
United Artists Corporation, & MGM/UA Home Video. (2001).Inherit the wind.
Culver City, CA : Santa Monica, CA: MGM/UA Home Video] ; MGM Home Entertainment
[distributor].
Young Library Closed Media Stacks - Ask at Media Library Desk in B-67 Young Library AV-D3075
Young Library Closed Media Stacks - Ask at Media Library Desk in B-67 Young Library AV-D3075
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