National Constitution Center

     This is the Scopes Trial biology textbook (made from paper) from 1914 in the We the People exhibition at the National Constitution Center. This books is an important part of United States history because it is at a time that America was changing after the First World War and people were challenging their rights. For the Scopes Trial, it challenged the First Amendment by stating that teachers have the right to teach what they want - even when the teacher is teaching evolution in a state that considers teaching the study of evolution illegal. This book is situated nearby the section on women's right to vote, which challenged the Fifteenth Amendment (which illustrated that voting cannot be denied based on race, color, or creed), stating that sex should be included, and if it is not, there should be another amendment to the U.S. Constitution saying that women have the right to vote.
     The caption of the Scopes Trial book is informative and presents the gist of the trial in one sentence. The placard behind the book presents the trial in more detail and is accompanied by a famous picture of the trial at the bottom.
     To understand the history of the Scopes trial, I could research why teachers did not teach evolution in the early 20th century, read the manuscript of the Scopes trial itself, or research how the teaching of evolution has evolved from the early 20th century until today. An opposing point of view to this book could be a teacher's explanation in the mid-1920s (at the time of the Scope trial) of why they do not teach evolution and whether if they even believe in it or not. To engage the public with this book, I could have them find an interesting topic that the book discusses, connect it to evolution, and then ask people if they think that topic would still be in that book or what would change in the textbook if they were not taught evolution.