A History of Political Prisoners
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On this day May 05, 1925

John Scopes arrested for teaching evolution

John Scopes
Released
John Thomas Scopes was a 24-year-old high-school teacher and football coach in Dayton, Tennessee when he was indicted on May 25, 1925 for violating the state's Butler Act, which banned the teaching of...
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Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes was arrested under the Butler Act for teaching evolution. The ACLU's defense — argued by Clarence Darrow against William Jennings Bryan — became the first nationally broadcast trial in U.S. history.

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