1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,040 Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Technically you're getting two days in history today 2 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,680 Speaker 1: because we were running two episodes from the History Vault. 3 00:00:05,840 --> 00:00:08,879 Speaker 1: You'll also hear two hosts, me and Tracy V. Wilson. 4 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:16,200 Speaker 1: Hope you enjoy. Welcome to this day in History class. 5 00:00:16,239 --> 00:00:21,599 Speaker 1: It's July one today in John Scopes was found guilty 6 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: of teaching evolution in Dayton, Tennessee. Here is how a 7 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: lot of people imagine this story. It's a small town 8 00:00:28,560 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: in the nineteen twenties. A science teacher defies all the 9 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: community norms and teaches a class on evolution. And then 10 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:40,440 Speaker 1: a student, usually imagined as a girl, tearfully says during 11 00:00:40,520 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: class that the learning this is against her religion. And 12 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: then she goes home and confesses to a parent that 13 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:51,279 Speaker 1: she has learned something offensive or sacrilegious in school. And 14 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: then her outraged father it's usually her father, goes to 15 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: the principal or the school board of the police. The 16 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:01,200 Speaker 1: teacher is arrested and put on trial. That is not 17 00:01:01,360 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 1: how this happened at all. Charles Darwin's theories of evolution 18 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 1: were more than fifty years old at this point. They 19 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:11,240 Speaker 1: had made their way into lots of standard biology textbooks, 20 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:14,759 Speaker 1: such as the nineteen fourteen edition of a Civic Biology 21 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: presented in Problems, which was the one that was being 22 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:21,120 Speaker 1: used in Dayton, Tennessee. And at the same time, more 23 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: and more school systems were standardizing their educational policies and 24 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 1: their school curricula. These two things happening at the same time. 25 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:31,959 Speaker 1: We're also going on at the same time as a 26 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:37,040 Speaker 1: rise in Christian fundamentalism, so all of this was happening simultaneously, 27 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:41,360 Speaker 1: and a lot of Christian fundamentalists objected to Charles Darwin's 28 00:01:41,480 --> 00:01:44,679 Speaker 1: writing on evolution. Some of this was because it just 29 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: contradicted the creation story in the Christian Bible, but there 30 00:01:49,160 --> 00:01:53,200 Speaker 1: were also objections to the idea that people came from monkeys. 31 00:01:53,680 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: To be clear, that is not how Darwin described evolution. 32 00:01:58,080 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: He did not write that people came from monkeyse that 33 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:03,400 Speaker 1: was a mischaracterization of his work. But in the face 34 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:09,200 Speaker 1: of the simultaneous standardization of schools and rise in fundamentalism, 35 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: a lot of states started banning the teaching of evolution. 36 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: Florida and Oklahoma passed laws that were related to the 37 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: issue in nineteen three, and then Tennessee explicitly outlawed it 38 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:25,240 Speaker 1: in nine in legislation called the Butler Act. The Butler 39 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:27,920 Speaker 1: Act made it illegal to quote teach any theory that 40 00:02:28,000 --> 00:02:30,840 Speaker 1: denies the story of the divine creation of ban as 41 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man 42 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 1: has descended from a lower order of animals. So this 43 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:40,799 Speaker 1: law got the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union 44 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,160 Speaker 1: or the a c l U. They ran an ad 45 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,840 Speaker 1: in a Chattanooga newspaper on May fourth, saying they were 46 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:51,440 Speaker 1: looking for a test case. They offered to publicly defend 47 00:02:51,680 --> 00:02:54,320 Speaker 1: any teacher who was charged with the teaching of evolution, 48 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: and at this point a bunch of community leaders in Dayton, Tennessee, 49 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,440 Speaker 1: population eighteen hundred, thought this might be a good chance 50 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:06,120 Speaker 1: to bring some much needed tourism to their town. They 51 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: approached teacher John Thomas Scopes, who was a relative newcomer 52 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 1: to the town, and he said he had probably taught 53 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: some evolution when he was substituting for a biology teacher 54 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: during a recent exam review. So he was arrested and indicted, 55 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:23,960 Speaker 1: and the town got ready to host a bunch of 56 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: news media and visitors this These visitors, some of them 57 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: were very high profile. They included Clarence Darrow, one of 58 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:35,040 Speaker 1: the most famous attorneys in the country, and Arthur Garfield 59 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:36,920 Speaker 1: Hayes of New York, who was the a c O 60 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: used General Counsel. They were both on the defense, and 61 00:03:39,920 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: then the prosecution included William Jennings Bryan, who had run 62 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,600 Speaker 1: for president three times and served as a Secretary of State. 63 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: They seriously got ready for a media onslaught. They built 64 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 1: a tourist camp. They updated the courthouse to accommodate more 65 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:58,240 Speaker 1: media people, including adding camera platforms and places for microphones. 66 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,160 Speaker 1: The town formed a Scopes Trial Entertainment Committee, businesses sort 67 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:06,120 Speaker 1: of hanging up pictures of monkeys in their windows selling 68 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,600 Speaker 1: monkey themed products. The trial itself played out before a 69 00:04:10,640 --> 00:04:13,680 Speaker 1: packed courtroom and eventually had to be moved outside because 70 00:04:13,680 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: of cracks that were forming in the ceiling. And then, 71 00:04:16,800 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: in a bizarre turn of events, Clarence Darrow put defense 72 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: attorney William Jennings Brian on the stand and then I 73 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:28,400 Speaker 1: asked him a bunch of like leading trick you questions. 74 00:04:28,640 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: He asked the kind of bad faith questions that people 75 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: on the internet ask is kind of a gotcha, and 76 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:39,359 Speaker 1: then afterward the press lampooned Brian. He actually died in 77 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:42,440 Speaker 1: his sleep five days after the trial was over, the 78 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,440 Speaker 1: media lampooned the town of Dayton as well. But even so, 79 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,839 Speaker 1: even with all of this fun making in the press, 80 00:04:50,480 --> 00:04:54,480 Speaker 1: numerous other states started introducing laws banning the teaching of evolution. 81 00:04:54,560 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 1: After this is over and if you passed them, the 82 00:04:57,240 --> 00:05:00,359 Speaker 1: Butler Act actually stayed on the books in Tennessee until 83 00:05:00,800 --> 00:05:04,039 Speaker 1: seven and then. Court cases related to whether any of 84 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,839 Speaker 1: this is constitutional have also been making their way through 85 00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: the courts for decades. Every time the court comes to 86 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:14,799 Speaker 1: a consensus on one issue, another approach will filter into 87 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: the mix and make its way through the courts again. 88 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:19,760 Speaker 1: You can learn more about the Scopes trial and some 89 00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:23,560 Speaker 1: of these other cases that followed it on the episode 90 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: of Stuff You Miss and History Class, and you can 91 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,839 Speaker 1: subscribe to This Day in History Class on Apple podcasts, 92 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:32,880 Speaker 1: Google podcasts, and whatever else you get your podcasts. Next up, 93 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,360 Speaker 1: we will have a medical breakthrough and some debate about 94 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:47,919 Speaker 1: who should get the credit for it. Hello, Welcome to 95 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,599 Speaker 1: This Day in History class, where we flipped through the 96 00:05:50,600 --> 00:06:00,640 Speaker 1: book of history and bring you a new page every day. 97 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: The day was July one, three six. An earthquake off 98 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,239 Speaker 1: the coast of Crete triggered a tsunami and was likely 99 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,400 Speaker 1: part of a larger sequence of sizemake events that caused 100 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:19,600 Speaker 1: destruction in Peloponneseis, the Greek islands Sicily, Libya, Cyprus. In Egypt, 101 00:06:20,720 --> 00:06:23,320 Speaker 1: there was no way to measure earthquakes in the fourth century, 102 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:27,279 Speaker 1: but since then scientists have estimated the quake's magnitude to 103 00:06:27,320 --> 00:06:31,000 Speaker 1: have been at least eight point oh The earthquake, which 104 00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: happened in the early morning, destroyed almost all the towns 105 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 1: in Crete. Areas of land and crete were lifted by 106 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:41,880 Speaker 1: at least thirty feet or nine meters. The city of 107 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: ancient Fula Sarna was uplifted so that it's harbor could 108 00:06:45,080 --> 00:06:49,240 Speaker 1: not be used anymore. Researchers at the University of Cambridge 109 00:06:49,279 --> 00:06:52,680 Speaker 1: carbon dated corals on the coast of Crete and determined 110 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: that a quake lifted them thirty three ft or ten 111 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: ms in one push. That meant that there must have 112 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 1: been an earthquake in a steep fault in the Hellenic 113 00:07:01,279 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 1: Trench near Crete. The Hellenic Trent is a linear depression 114 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: that forms the boundary between the Hellenic tectonic Plate and 115 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:13,040 Speaker 1: the African Plate. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami were blamed 116 00:07:13,080 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: for destruction in the Noile Delta and on other coasts 117 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: in the eastern Mediterranean, and for the death of thousands 118 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: of people. Roman historian Ammianus Marcelinists described the destruction that 119 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:29,840 Speaker 1: the earthquake and tsunami caused. Slightly after daybreak, and heralded 120 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:33,920 Speaker 1: by a thick succession of fiercely shaken thunderbolts, the solidity 121 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: of the whole earth was made to shake and shudder, 122 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: and the sea was driven away. Its waves were rolled back, 123 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:42,960 Speaker 1: and it disappeared, so that the abyss of the depths 124 00:07:43,040 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: was uncovered, and many shaped varieties of sea creatures were 125 00:07:46,440 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 1: seen stuck in the slime, the great waste of those 126 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: valleys and mountains which the very creation had dismissed beneath 127 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: the vast whirlpools at that moment, as it was given 128 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 1: to be believed, looked up at the sun's rays. Many 129 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: ships then were stranded as if on dry land, and 130 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,600 Speaker 1: people wandered at will about the paltry remains of the 131 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: waters to collect fish in the like in their hands. 132 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 1: Then the roaring sea, as if insulted by its repulse, 133 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,520 Speaker 1: rises back in turn, and through the teeming shoals dashed 134 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 1: itself violently on islands and extensive tracks of the mainland, 135 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,120 Speaker 1: and flattened innumerable buildings in towns or wherever they were found. 136 00:08:28,400 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: Damage in the Eastern Mediterranean and three six was applied spread, 137 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: leading researchers to conclude that the July twenty one earthquake 138 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: was not isolated, but part of a series of local 139 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: earthquakes that might have included major events off of Cyprus 140 00:08:44,400 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: and between Sicily and Libya. In addition to crete, these 141 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: sizemic events may have happened in such a short period 142 00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: that historical accounts regarded them as a single event. In fact, 143 00:08:56,960 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: historical and archaeological data suggest that the fourth to sixth 144 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,720 Speaker 1: centuries was a period with a lot of seismic activity 145 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,760 Speaker 1: in the Eastern Mediterranean, which may reflect a reactivation of 146 00:09:08,800 --> 00:09:13,040 Speaker 1: all plate boundaries in the region. Debate continues over whether 147 00:09:13,120 --> 00:09:16,480 Speaker 1: ancient accounts of the July twenty one earthquake describe a 148 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: single regional catastrophe or represented the conflation of several quakes 149 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: that occurred in the fourth and fifth centuries. The disaster 150 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: was recognized as a Day of Horror in some archaeological sources, 151 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,439 Speaker 1: while some researchers have said that the three six CE 152 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: disaster lad to the split of the already declining Roman 153 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:40,680 Speaker 1: Empire thirty years later. Others have said that the earthquake 154 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:45,400 Speaker 1: was not the cause of any major cultural change. I'm 155 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:47,800 Speaker 1: Eve Jeff Cote and hopefully you know a little more 156 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. And if you 157 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,240 Speaker 1: like to follow us on social media, you can find 158 00:09:54,320 --> 00:10:00,200 Speaker 1: us at T D i h C Podcast on Twitter, Instagram, 159 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: and Facebook. Come back tomorrow for another Tidbit from History 160 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: m HM. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit 161 00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 162 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:19,400 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.