Today in History, July 10th
On July 10, 1925, the Scopes "Monkey Trial" over teaching evolution opened in Dayton, Tennessee. Plus the Battle of Britain and Telstar 1.
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July 10 is best known for 1925, when the Scopes “Monkey Trial” opened in Dayton, Tennessee, putting the teaching of evolution on trial. The date also saw the Battle of Britain begin in 1940 and the launch of Telstar 1, the first satellite to relay live TV across the Atlantic, in 1962.
The big story: The Scopes “Monkey Trial” begins (1925)
In March 1925, Tennessee made it a misdemeanor to teach any theory denying the Bible’s account of human creation or claiming that people came from lower animals. John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher in Dayton, agreed with local businessman George Rappleyea to get himself charged, and the American Civil Liberties Union took up his defense. The trial opened on July 10, 1925, and it quickly became a national show. William Jennings Bryan, a three-time Democratic presidential candidate, joined the prosecution. Clarence Darrow joined the defense. The judge barred expert testimony on evolution, and with thousands of spectators, the proceedings moved out to the courthouse lawn. There Darrow called Bryan himself to the stand and pressed him on reading the Bible literally. The jury took nine minutes to convict, and Scopes was fined $100. Tennessee’s Supreme Court tossed the verdict in 1927 on a technicality. Bryan died on July 26, only days after it ended.
More events on July 10
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1553 | Lady Jane Grey became queen of England. Her reign lasted nine days. |
| 1832 | President Andrew Jackson vetoed the bill to renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States. |
| 1850 | Millard Fillmore was sworn in as the 13th U.S. president, after Zachary Taylor’s death. |
| 1893 | Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed one of the world’s first open-heart surgeries, in Chicago. |
| 1940 | The Battle of Britain began as German aircraft opened their bombing campaign against Great Britain. |
| 1943 | Allied forces landed on Sicily, their first invasion of Axis-held Europe. |
| 1962 | Telstar 1 was launched. It became the first communications satellite to carry live television and telephone signals across the Atlantic. |
| 1973 | The Bahamas became independent from Britain, remaining in the Commonwealth. |
| 1985 | Two bombs sank the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior in the harbor at Auckland, New Zealand, killing one person. French intelligence agents were later found to have planted them. |
| 1991 | Boris Yeltsin was sworn in as Russia’s first elected president. |
| 2018 | Rescuers brought out the last of 12 boys from a Thai youth soccer team and their coach, who had been trapped in a cave. |
| 2019 | Volkswagen ended production of the Beetle, a car first introduced in 1938. |
Born on July 10
- 1830: Camille Pissarro, Impressionist painter, born on St. Thomas in the Danish West Indies.
- 1875: Mary McLeod Bethune, educator and adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, born in Mayesville, South Carolina.
- 1943: Arthur Ashe, tennis champion and the first Black man to win a major men’s singles title, born in Richmond, Virginia.
Sources
- Monkey Trial begins, History.com
- This Day in History: July 10, History.com
- On This Day: July 10, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Camille Pissarro, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Mary McLeod Bethune, Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Arthur Ashe, Encyclopaedia Britannica
