This day in history: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes was found guilty of teaching human evolution in class and fined $100 on this day in 1925. Scopes was reading from _A Civic Biology: Presented in Problems_ which was a biology textbook written by George William Hunter that was published in 1914. What a lot of people don't know is that this book also promoted Eugenics and racism.
Here is a quote from Hunter's book: "At the present time there exist upon the earth five races or varieties of man, each very different from the other in instincts, social customs, and, to an extent, in structure. These are the Ethiopian or negro type, originating in Africa; the Malay or brown race, from the islands of the Pacific; the American Indian; the Mongolian or yellow race, including the natives of China, Japan, and the Eskimos; and finally, the highest type of all, the Caucasians, represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America."
"George William Hunter’s A Civic Biology: Presented in Problems (1914) was the book that sparked the controversy. Condemned as heretical in 1925, today it would seem to be a manual for enlightenment’s battle against religion’s perceived mysticism. Yet if John Scopes were to teach the very same Civic Biology in a modern classroom, he would probably be put on trial again. Because buried under the dust of history is the fact that this progressive, pro-evolution text was also quite racist." Source
