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It's the morning of July 10th, 1925, in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee.

Twenty-four-year-old teacher John T. Scopes, hurries toward the county courthouse, flanked by two of his lawyers.

A few weeks ago, John volunteered to help the American Civil Liberties Union challenge the Butler Act, a new state law that makes it illegal to teach evolution in the classroom.

After breaking the act during his time as a substitute biology teacher, John has decided to bring his case to court, giving his legal team the opportunity to refute the law's constitutionality.

Today is the first day of John's highly anticipated trial.

Large crowds line the narrow streets leading to the courthouse, and John brushes a strand of red hair from his eyes in order to take in the spectacle.

While his sleepy town of Dayton has a population of just 1800, today more than twice that number fills the town center, coming from all walks of life and varying sides of the evolution to be.

A mid-hundreds of journalists grim-faced farmers from the surrounding mountains stand silent and withdrawn, while members of the anti-evolution league circulate, and gregarious out-of-state salesmen shout advertisements for snacks, soda, and lemonade.

John tries to ignore the commotion as he strides past, but a flurry of activity catches his attention.

At the center of the frenzy is something more bizarre than anything he could have imagined.

In a doorway stands a chimpanzee dressed in a fine grey suit, complete with a stylish top hat and pale leather shoes.

With the help of a distinguished cane, the chimpanzee slowly descends the doorstep toward a miniature piano and then begins to play.

This outlandish side show sends cheers through one part of the crowd, while others hurl accusations of sacrilege and depravity.

Careful not to get their clients swept up by the dramatics, John's lawyers put their arms around him and race him up the courthouse's stairs away from the chaos consuming the street.

In the 1920s a debate is raging across the United States. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is presented in nearly all state-mandated science textbooks, even in conservative states like Tennessee.

But many Christian fundamentalists believe the idea of evolution is blasphemous and a threat to the nation's soul.

As this fight escalates, several state legislatures pass laws to ban the teaching of Darwin's theory.

More organizations and politicians will seek to fight these new laws, but it will be a young Tennessee teacher whose trial becomes one of the conflict's defining flashpoints.

Drawing national attention when the verdict of the so-called Scopes Monkey trial is delivered on July 21st, 1925.

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