The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial

By BBC RADIO 4
Added: Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:00 UTC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nwz36

In 1925, the same year that Franz Kafka's The Trial was published, one of the most unusual trials ever seen in a United States courtroom took place. Earlier that year, the state of Tennessee had passed the Butler Act, which made the teaching of evolution illegal. In the stifling July heat, and in a courtroom hung with banners proclaiming 'Read Your Bible Daily', 24-year-old teacher John Scopes stood trial.

Adapted from the original trial transcript by Peter Goodchild.

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TAGGED: CREATIONISM, EVOLUTION, LAW

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