Evolution In Public Schools In The 1920's

Evolution was a big topic during the 1920’s. During the mid 19th century there were an abundance of fossil discoveries and a rise of children in public schools. A fundamentalist name William Jennings Bryan argued the teaching of evolution should be banned in public high schools. Fundamentalist argued the sacredness of the bible and the literal interpretations of the Bible. Modernist on the other hand, argued public schools should be allowed to teach whatever they want. Modernist also argued that the Bible should be understood by how the people wanted to interpret it and how it would apply to the needs of people rather than what it meant historically. This was a turning point in the United States because the American Civil Liberties Union known

They did things that supported their beliefs. World War I, played a major role in this (Larson 49). It divided the nation during the 1920’s. The scopes trial divided the nation was in a religious way. Fundamentalist believes that this war meant it was the end of time. They believed in peace. Bryan and many others agreed, “Many leading premillennialists shared Bryans hostility towards American’s intervention in the European conflict, seeing the war as both products of the depravity of the age and the possible fulfillment of a prophesy regarding the coming of the next millennium”(Larson 35).On the other hand modernist supported the

“The culture issue suddenly gave the moment a new dimension, as well as a sense of urgency” (Larson 35) fundamentalist made social actions based on their beliefs. In 1919 there was an inaugural conference hosted by The World’s Christians Fundamentals Association which six thousand conservatives attended. Another way the nation’s culture was divided during the 1930’s when there were different forms of schooling. “They sought to build separate institutional structures for propagating creationist scientific theories” (Larson 233). Since fundamentalist couldn’t change the world “they turned their energies inward and began creating an institutional base if their own” (Larson 233). Fundamentalists created organizations and independent institutions. Another example of how The Scopes Trail divided the nation's culture was by teaching, “science at fundamentalist colleges and schools, which typically required all teachers and students to affirm their belief and biblical inerrancy” (Larson