The Monkey Trial That Rewired America 100 Years Ago

In 1925, a small-town courtroom in Dayton, Tennessee became the stage for one of the most famous trials in American history. The “Monkey Trial” wasn’t really about Darwin, evolution, or even a $100 fine. It was about dignity.

When Clarence Darrow grilled William Jennings Bryan on the witness stand, the courtroom laughed. Newspapers printed cartoons of monkey-preachers. And in that laughter, evangelicals—who had once stood at the center of American life, suddenly felt mocked, humiliated, pushed to the margins.

This episode tells the real story of the Scopes Trial: not as science vs. faith, but as a turning point in cultural psychology. It was the moment American evangelicals shifted from confident insiders to defensive outsiders. From mainstream to subculture. From leading the nation to building a world of their own.

Nearly a century later, we’re still living in its shadow.

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