American Notes: Scopes Returns

Driven out of his profession for teaching Darwinism to high school biology students, John Thomas Scopes left both pedagogy and Tennessee in 1925. He became an oil company geologist, prospected for oil in South America, wrote a book and lived to see the "monkey trial" re-created for Broadway and Hollywood. Last week, accepting an invitation from students at Nashville's George Peabody College for Teachers, Scopes, 70, found himself back in a Tennessee classroom for the first time in 45 years—addressing a biology class.

History has treated Scopes well, and he was greeted...

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