Going Ape: Florida's Battles over Evolution in the Classroom

293 Pages·2014·13.38 MB·English

by  Brandon Haught

Going Ape
University Press of Florida
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
New College of Florida, Sarasota
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers · Sarasota
Going Ape
Florida’s Battles over
Evolution in the Classroom
Brandon Haught
Copyright 2014 by Brandon Haught
All rights reserved
An early version of chapter 9 originally appeared in Reports of the National Center for Science
Education 28, no. 4 (2008).
Printed in the United States of America on recycled, acid-free paper
This book may be available in an electronic edition.
19 18 17 16 15 14 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Haught, Brandon.
Going ape : Florida’s battles over evolution in the classroom / Brandon Haught.
pages cm
Summary: In this book, Haught chronicles the war over teaching evolution in Florida’s schools,
from the first shouts of religious persecution and child endangerment in Tallahassee in 1923 to
the forced delays and extra public hearings in state-level textbook adoptions today.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8130-4943-4 (alk. paper)
1. Evolution (Biology)—Study and teaching—Florida. 2. Evolution (Biology)—Philosophy. 3.
Creationism. 4. Religion and state. 5. Religion and science. I. Title.
QH362.H38 2014
576.8—dc23
2013044108
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
http://www.upf.com
To my son, Caleb, my anchor in a stormy sea
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Contents
Preface ix
1. “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” 1
2. “Un-American, Atheistic, Subversive, and Communistic” 24
3. “A Spirit of Compromise and Conciliation” 51
4. “A History of Hoaxes, Deception, and Deceit” 71
5. “A Conspiracy to Destroy the Faith of Children” 91
6. “It Was Historic, Wasn’t It?” 102
7. “One of the Primal Evils in Our Country” 122
8. “There Are Razor Blades in That Apple” 139
9. “I Want God to Be Part of This” 162
10. “Who Gets to Decide What Is Science?” 187
11. “Standing Up for the Little Guy” 220
Epilogue 232
Acknowledgments 235
Notes 237
Index 269
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Preface
I believe that the doctrine that man
is descended from a beast, a doctrine
unsupported by any scientific fact, and
directly contrary to the Bible account of
the creation, is the greatest menace fac-
ing the church today.
William Jennings Bryan, 1923
“As a trained biologist I never even realized that there was anything
controversial about evolution,” said Dr. C. Francis Byers, recalling his
time as a new biology professor in the 1920s at the University of Florida
in Gainesville. “It came as a surprise to me to be suddenly, as a young
instructor, introduced into an environment where it could be even a
fighting word, let alone a dangerous one.”1
Byers had witnessed the genesis of a war over the teaching of evolu-
tion in Florida’s schools that has lasted ninety years and still engulfs the
state with undiminished strength. Over the years it has featured some
of the most tenacious culture warriors imaginable. Many governors,
state legislators, school board members, and teachers have endured
raucous battles in the local and national spotlights, some by choice and
others unwittingly.
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