Anti-evolution in the classroom
The Scopes Trial of 1925 in Dayton, Tennessee put the controversial issue of evolution vs creationism on front stage for the United States to watch. After The Scopes Trial, anti-evolutionists were really trying to stop evolution in the classroom. Up until the The Scopes Trial, generations of people were following in the footsteps of their elders, adopted their religious beliefs. But after the trial, there came a period of modernization and questioning the common standards. Anti-Evolutionists, not wanting the generation to fall the idea of Evolution took charge and started a civil movement. Anti-evolutionists created a collective identity for themselves, they had mobilized activists, and built institutions. They
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About 35 new anti-evolution bills were proposed to 20 states and three laws state laws were passed. Many areas where the fundamentalists have political power passed some form of restriction on the teaching of evolution. Most of them involved administrative rulings with the rest of them being school board's resolutions. Basically almost all of the South and West were affected. Once they were in place, no Southern anti-evolution legislation was repealed for 40 …show more content…
Professor Paul Douglas asked this question at the 1929 AFT national convention, “allowed to be determined by vaudeville promoters, and real estate agents, and lawyers, and bankers, every interest in the community sitting on school boards, except teachers?” Professor Paul Douglas who later will the the Senator from Illinois, was very upset with teachers were getting treated compared to similar jobs. The school boards went out of their way and into their employees’ lives. They fired teachers for not attending church, failing to vote, or not attending local parades. Also a couple of school boards fired women teachers for wearing the wrong clothing, having the wrong hairstyle, being over the age of forty, and sometimes for getting married. With all these ridiculous infractions the final straw was pushed for teachers, the situation was intolerable and thought life would not get any better without creating a union. The American Federation of the Teachers founded in 1916, was created for the struggles of the teacher for control of their lives and money. Margaret Haley who led the Chicago Federation of Teachers, set an example across the nation, she organized a platform calling for corporations to pay a fair share of taxes to support them. Teachers feeling like servants to society, forged the slogan “Education for Democracy”. The slogan was used to illustrate the