The Rhetorical Impact of the Scopes Trial’s Interconnected Public Memory Places

Abstract

In 1925, the Scopes Trial, one of the first legal battles over teaching evolution in public schools, was held in Dayton, Tennessee. Dayton commemorates the trial with a trinity of sites: The Scopes Trial Museum, the Scopes Trial Trail, and Bryan College. I argue that the trail connects the two other public memory places physically and symbolically, inviting visitors to follow the journey of William Jennings Bryan’s death at the Scopes Trial Museum to a rebirth of creationism at Bryan College. This inquiry attends to the influence of creationist messages at historical landmarks in shaping public understanding of the past. Furthermore, I explore how a museum experience can be felt across multiple memory places to elicit subject positions in visitors.