Jerry Summers: You Missed It? Scopes

  • Thursday, July 25, 2024
  • Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers

Just in case you were not present at the historical re-enactment of the 1925 John Scopes Trial in nearby Dayton and Rhea County, you missed a great event. A talented cast of reenactors reduced the eight day battle over fundamentalism (Bible) versus modernism (evolution) into an informative two hour production that explained the controversy arising out of the constitutionality of the Anti Evolution Act (Butler Law) passed in March 1925 by the Tennessee Legislature.

The setting on July 20, 2024 was the same as July 1925- the 1896 Rhea County Courthouse that, fortunately, has been preserved and was designated a national historic landmark in 1976 with one exception- air conditioning. The original participants have been gone for many years, but the 35th annual Scopes Trial play and Heritage Day celebration, created by Frank Chapin may have been represented by their ghosts in the original courtroom to ensure an accurate portrayal of the true facts in Tennessee's “True Trial of the Century”.

With a musical prelude by a talented bluegrass quartet, a fast moving trial that hit the highlights with a great deal of accuracy of an event included the following condensed version of the 1925 event that:

1. Produced millions of words of written copy;

2. the first national and international radio broadcast of a legal proceeding;

3. Multitudes of novels and award winning play and movie, “Inherit the Wind”, in 1960;

4. the ongoing controversy over the creation of man that is still an issue in 2024.

A sit down afternoon dinner on the courthouse lawn with a multi piece orchestra, “Scenic City Sound of Chattanooga”, that were appropriately clad in 1925 attire, provided a great finish to the event.

A good place to start a review of the Scopes Trial is to purchase a copy of the chronological story “Causes Go on Forever” (2024) by Randy Moore and Tom Davis available for purchase from the Rhea County Historical and Genealogical Society. P O Box 31 Dayton, Tennessee 37321.

The Rhea Heritage and Scopes Trial Museum and the basement of the courthouse is open on Monday through Friday 9am to 4:30pm and provides additional exhibits and data. A 20 stop historical tour of key sites of the trial marked with State of Tennessee historical descriptive markers complete with location by map is also available.

Some claim that in addition to the discussion of legal issues and the famous trial, the most important development was the creation of Bryan College in 1930. Named after volunteer prosecutor, William Jennings Bryan, the trial that eventually helped provide some economic stability anticipated by the originators of the test case that transformed the small rural East Tennessee community into a national and international news event from July 10-21st 1925.

(Beginning in March 2025 and continuing into July, the 100th anniversary of the Scopes Trial will be celebrated again. Over the years public approval/disapproval of the attention Dayton has received over the Monkey Trial (H L. Mencken allegedly first used the term) has vacillated but it remains a significant part of America's legal jurisprudence.)

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If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact him at jsummers@summersfirm.com)

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