Column Science & Society

How attacks on evolution in classrooms have shifted over the last 100 years

Since the Scopes trial, Science News has reported on efforts to undermine the teaching of evolution

By Erin Wayman

Managing Editor, Print and Longform

A black-and-white photograph showing people browsing books at a an Anti-Evolution League stand in Dayton, Tenn., where the Scopes trial took place in 1925

The 1925 Scopes trial brought publicity to the issue of teaching evolution, particularly human evolution, in the classroom.

Topical Press Agency/Getty Images

Reporters from across the United States flocked to eastern Tennessee in July 1925.