John T. Scopes (
August 3,
1900 -
October 21,
1970) was a schoolteacher who, in 1925, at the age of 24, was charged on
May 25, 1925 with violating
Tennessee's
Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of
evolution in
Tennessee schools.
In the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial, he was defended by Clarence Darrow and others from the ACLU, and prosecuted by William Jennings Bryan. The case ended with a guilty verdict, and Scopes was given a $100 fine, which was later overturned on a technicality. After the trial, Scopes was mainly employed by the oil industry, in both America and Venezuela.
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