March 13, 1925 - The "Butler Bill" is Passed

On March 13, 1925, the state of Tennessee passed the “Butler Bill.” Introduced by State Representative John Washington Butler (picutred), the bill prohibited teaching evolution in public schools. One teacher in Dayton, Tennessee, John Scopes, decided to teach evolution in his classroom anyway after answering a newspaper advertisement placed in local newspapers by the ACLU. In the following July, the “Scopes Monkey Trial” was in full swing.