24 July 1925
On this date in 1925…
The Scopes “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, Tennessee, with John T. Scopes convicted of violating a state law against teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. Scopes was fined $100 plus court costs. His conviction was later overturned on a technicality.
Other Years:
- 1758 – George Washington was admitted to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
- 1836 – Creek Indians defeated Georgia militia in a brief fight near Wesley Chapel in present-day Stewart County, Georgia.
- 1864 – The second Battle of Kernstown, Virginia.
- 1866 – Tennessee became the first state to be readmitted to the US.
- 1901 – Writer William Sydney Porter, better known by his pen name of O. Henry was released from prison in Austin, Texas after serving three years for bank embezzlement.
- 1937 – The state of Alabama dropped charges against the “Scottsboro Boys,” five young black men accused of raping a white woman in Scottsboro, Alabama.
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