Anyone ever hear of the Scopes Monkey Trial in our volunteer state?
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/monkey-trial-begins
July 10th, 1925
Scopes Monkey Trial begins
In Dayton,
Tennessee, the so-called
Scopes Monkey Trial begins with John Thomas Scopes, a young high school science teacher, accused of teaching
evolution in violation of a Tennessee state law.
Outside the courthouse, Dayton took on a carnival-like atmosphere as an exhibit featuring two chimpanzees and a supposed “missing link” opened in town, and vendors sold Bibles, toy monkeys, hot dogs, and lemonade. The missing link was in fact Jo Viens of Burlington,
Vermont, a 51-year-old man who was of short stature and possessed a receding forehead and a protruding jaw. One of the chimpanzees–named Joe Mendi–wore a plaid suit, a brown fedora, and white spats, and entertained Dayton’s citizens by monkeying around on the courthouse lawn.