Basic science classes in public schools covers a wide range of topics from dropping eggs off of rooftops to the understanding the cosmos. The lessons have changed and evolved over the years but one topic that is still touchy is that of evolution itself. How did we become what we are? Science was a bit fuzzy here for some time. Then Darwin came along and mostly explained it all. According to Darwin, we didn't start upright and we certainly didn't start as the fruit of the loins of one divine couple. So much controversy surrounded this topic that it was actually made illegal to teach this theory in public school. The Butler Act went into effect in Tennessee in 1925.

Meanwhile at a drugstore in Dayton, Tennessee, George W. Rappelyea led a meeting of the town leaders to contact the American Civil Liberties Union who offered legal support and defense for any teacher who might be bold enough to ignore the law and teach the theory. These local leaders believed the law was unconstitutional and therefor sought to fight for teachers' rights to include Evolution in the curriculum.

Rappelyea also felt a trial over the law would generate a lot of publicity for the small mining town. He invited a young teacher and football coach John T. Scopes at the local high school to the meeting and recruited him to stand up to the law and teach Evolution. Scopes was an Evolutionist already so he agreed to the request.

On May 5, 1925 Scopes was arrested for teaching the Theory of Evolution to his students. What followed was the first trial broadcast nationwide live. To call it a circus is an understatement. The trial became a media frenzy filled with big names from politics and law and left Scopes with no voice. In the end he was convicted and sentenced to pay a fine of $100. This was Scopes first opportunity to speak. "I feel that I have been convicted of violating an unjust statute. I will continue in the future, as I have in the past, oppose this law in any way I can." After the trail, Scopes left teaching and went on to Chicago University for his masters in geology. He became a petroleum engineer in Venezuela and disappeared from the public eye.

A whopping 42 years later the Butler Act was found unconstitutional and repealed. 

For more info:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/tennstat.htm

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/scopes/evolut.htm

http://physics.syr.edu/courses/modules/ORIGINS/origins.html

http://www.constitution.org/col/evolutionism_v_creationism.htm