A Road Scholar program by James Winker

Debates between rural folks and city people, between the forces for tradition and those for modernity, and between the hopes for science against a disciplined faith characterized the turbulent period of the 1920s. In this lecture, James Winker presents the facts of a case that pitted a young Tennessee biology teacher, James T. Scopes, against the spellbinding orator and perennial Democratic presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan. Learn the arguments surrounding their differing viewpoints on the teaching of evolution in public schools and the long-term impacts of the case on the fundamentalist movement in the United States.

James Winker is an active and respected instructor of history at Freeport High School where he has worked for over thirteen years. A guest lecturer for both Highland Community College and Columbia College Chicago, he has also presented a living history dramatic rendition of William Jennings Bryan as part of a program that highlighted great speeches in American history.

For more information contact Amy Lego, 815.626-3958.