The Scopes Monkey TrialOn May 5, 1925, Tennessee high school teacher John Scopes was charged with the crime of teaching his students about the science of human evolution. The State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes would be argued two months later, with two of the most famous attorneys in the United States on opposing sides. The Scopes Monkey Trial, as it came to be known, was a national spectacle, and the first trial to be broadcast via the new medium of radio.