The Scopes Monkey Trial: The Women's Rights Movement

(Linder Emmett) This quote proves how the trial affected the rest of the nation. In the end, the way the trial was handled and ended was clearly rigged and in favor of the white

Ellen McConnell was born in Scotland in 1791. The war had started when she was with her son David near their home near Birch Coulee. A little after the war had started, a couple Dakota broke into her house capturing her daughter and her daughter’s baby, and killing her other grandchild, Thomas Brooks, her son-in-law, and her son-in-law’s father. She even had to watch her own husband’s death, but she wasn’t bothered at all. To avoid the war’s danger, Ellen and her son, David, met up with another one of Ellen’s children, Joseph, after walking twelve miles to Fort Ridgely where they stayed till both battles there were over.

The trial represented the differing ideas and beliefs from people that were from different parts of the country, and how Americans were also divided among old and new ideas brought on by the new technological innovations of the 1920’s. The monkey trial was a scheme that was set up by George Rappalyea, R.E. Robinson,

This trail was nationally recognized and drew such intense publicity because it shocked the world. During the 1920’s, the idea of going against the Bible and teaching young minds to question the word of the Lord was completely radical and unheard of. The trial was also so popular and drew so much attention due to the prosecutor and

One of the most glaring aspects that underline the trial's unfairness was the biases and prejudices that pervaded the courtroom. During this era, the

The Scopes Monkey Trial was an important event in history that still holds resonance today. The South during the 1920’s was still recovering from Reconstruction after the war. Which means that the South was not in favor of any National attention that could possibly be avoided. This case being in the South as well as being such a controversial topic, created a separation between the newer town of Dayton (did not mind attention) and the state of Tennessee(did not want attention). Out of which came an array of views on whether this trial should even be held or not.

“Most of the nine judges of the Supreme Court did not support FDR’s programs (“The Great Depression and the New Deal”). Those judges who disagreed with the President’s programs thought they gave the government too much power in controlling the economy. The judges did not want this to happen because they believed it was not good for the government to have too much power. So they struck down the laws which they believed gave the government this excess power which then destroyed the New Deal programs. Then, “his attempt to pack the Supreme Court with allies damaged his image and gave ammunition to his critics” (“The Great Depression and the New Deal”).

The United States of America in the 1920s was a period of debate, of shifting values and changing social structures, and was, above anything else, a battleground of clashing ideologies that ultimately boiled down and exploded within the Scopes Trial of 1925. The Scopes Trial was not in any way, shape, or form primarily a conflict of simply one issue alone. Instead, the Scopes Trial was the height of the tensions that emerged within America during the infamous Roaring 20s, and it, unfortunately, pushed smaller, less-debated topics to the sidelines to make way for the main conflict. Issues which revolved around racial and gender tensions existed and were debated at length within society, but were completely ignored during the proceedings of the

The reason why Tom was brought to trial because he was accused for raping Mayella Ewell, Bob Ewell’s daughter. He was falsely accused because Mr. Ewell knew he would have a higher possibility of getting away with his abusive actions towards his daughter. He knew that the system would favor someone in the higher class. This also shows the racism and the disadvantage that Tom was at because he knew that the society at that time, overlooked black men and there were no equal rights that could have defended him in a situation like that. He knew that he would lose his case despite whatever he said was the truth.

“The Scopes Trial is one of the best known in American history events because it symbolizes the conflict between science and theology, faith and reason, individual liberty and majority rule,” (Mintz and McNeil par 1). The decade of the 1920’s was an era of rebellion, prosperity, and social changes. One major event that shocked the country through its discordance between urban enlightenment and rural protestantism was called “The Scopes Trial”, which involved the teachings of evolution. Before the trial took place, an act known as “The Butler Act” established that public schools prohibited the teachings of evolution to students. This act was passed in early 1925 by the Tennessee General Assembly for the reason being that students shouldn’t

Despite that racial segregation in public schools became unconstitutional due to the notable Brown vs. Board of Education court case in 1954, that was merely the beginning of the transformation of American society and acceptance. Subsequently, the new racial movement allowed other minorities to have the courage to defend their civil rights. This was not only a historical moment for minorities, but for women as well. Women, regardless of race, revolted against oppression and traditions. To be politically correct was now discretional.

In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, the story is set in the 1900’s, Maycomb, Alabama. During this time there was racism in the south and segregation which separated the whites and blacks from everything. There was also the Great Depression, the whole country was poor and people living in the country had to trade and do other jobs for people to either pay them off or to buy something from them. The trial in this book is about Mayella and Bob Ewell, two white people, claiming and arguing that Tom Robinson, a black person, raped Mayella Ewell. This trial is really important because at that time in the south, white people took advantage of black people and their kindness and thought they would take that or shut up just because they were black.

This quote sums up the two great forces that would be facing off in the trial and the anticipation around two of the most prominent speakers and brilliant minds of the time. The issue that was being argued was the teaching of evolution in public schools. The trail pitted close-minded bigotry against free thought and creationism against evolution. William Jennings Bryan was arguing on the side of creationism and Darrow was arguing for evolution. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) played a critical role in the trial because “ACLU leaders saw the new Tennessee statute in a different light, one that made it stand out as a threat to freedom and individual liberty in the broader American society” (Larson, 60).

The justice system has always been the heart of America. But like this country, it has many faults. Prejudice has played a major role in the shaping of this system. In the 1930’s the way a courtroom was set up was completely different from how it looks to day. In the book To Kill A MockingBird, Harper Lee shows just how different it is.

I believe that despite all controversial views this event was a huge shift for social change and future breakthrough in this area. For the American feminist movement such impetus was the successful story of the suffrage movement during the First World War, including the adoption of the 19th Amendment. The history of women’s struggle for their rights is very long and sometimes seems endless. “The Age of Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries opened up job opportunities for women, released them from domestic confines and provided them with new social freedoms” (Repetto, 2010,