Day 11 - Monkey trial's still bringing up bananas

Dayton, Tennessee:

Folks might say I made a bad decision in driving 287 miles to a little town close to no one has heard of to check out a brick courthouse. I began to think the same as I came across mustached men smoking and looking soused in the neighboring towns, but maybe that’s just me falling back on my preconceived notions. But on Tuesday I continued the drive to Dayton, the site of the infamous 1925 Tennessee vs. Scopes court case sometimes called the Scopes Monkey Trial.

To refresh your memory, it was about a high school teacher indicted for teaching Darwin's theory of natural selection in defiance of a Tennessee ban on teaching evolution. William Jennings Bryan, a three-time Democratic presidential nominee, joined the prosecution, and his earnest knowledge of the Bible frequently ended in soliloquies in court. Then there was my hero, Clarence Darrow, a man for humanitarian causes, women's rights, and civil liberties, and the attorney for controversial defendants such as strikers and even accused killers.

When I saw a statue of Bryan outside the courthouse while a similar monument to Darrow was conspicuously absent, I laughed. Of course they wouldn’t erect a statue of the man who, point by point, blew up the prosecution's attacks by using scientific method and reason. Anyway, I can’t say enough about Darrow. I’d drive anywhere to see where the great man debated in the courtroom still much preserved. I’m hoping in the next couple days to find his birth home somewhere in Ohio. And someday I'll go to Chicago and visit his museum/home that's supposedly haunted. That would be icing on the Beard Papas.

On a frustrating note, I was stopped by the police Tuesday when a sleek black SUV flashed me over to the shoulder with the blue lights. I swear, this city has the neatest cop cars. Anyway, same old same old. He had nothing on me. The officer just went straight to the point. "Do you have firearms...cocaine...marijuana...meth, etc." He let me go not even five minutes later. The combination of my milk truck Scion and California license plates is going to get me in trouble deep before this trip is over.

Day 10 - Historical markers

Memphis:

I took in lots of things today that I won't bore you with. I'll just list them in a second. I just want to say that Memphis has so many historic sites bursting in their scope. A good share of them are music-related, of course. Blues...and later, white blues...dominate this city. Their histories are all kept in excellent condition with the exception of Slave Haven, a stockyard once owned by Jacob Burkle, who secretly protected runaway slaves on course with the underground railroad.

I expected something glorious. The marker on the streets had nice arrows pointing to the house. When I got there, I had to do a double take. The house was in disarray, there were metal bars on the doors and windows, and their sign was a bad fit for such a weighty subject. If anything, this historic home surpasses the historic importance of Graceland, but the dollars just aren't there.

My Today List...

+ Sun Studios
+ Pyramid Bldg
+ Orpheum Theater
+ Slave Haven
+ Giant Dog
+ Graceland (eeesh! expensive, too!)
+ Riverboat ride
+ Confederate Park (I just had to see this one)
+ Dinner at Beale Street (Like 3rd Street Promenade but with really good musicians)

I'm exhausted so I'm going to shut up. Bright and early I'm driving to the other end of Tennessee to the old courtroom from the Scopes Trial, in which Clarence Darrow defended the high school biology teacher who taught evolution in school. I'm a Clarence Darrow fan, so I'd better get some rest to properly get my admirin' on.

Clarence Darrow, My Ultimate Hero!

What can I say? Ever since I read Inherit the Wind in high school, I've been fascinated by Clarence Darrow, the attorney of the people. I recently finished reading his autobiography and I am floored by his sense of justice. He took on clients no one would touch, like John Scopes of the Monkey Trials who had the audacity to teach Darwin in school, or Dr. Sweet who was black and dared defend his home against a white mob.

There was the case of Leopold and Loeb, the Massie Trials, and of course his defense of Eugene V. Debbs who had a hand in railroad strikes and who was later imprisoned by Wilson (he's my most hated president!) for being anti-war.

Darrow worked with the NAACP, was an atheist, a humanist, and a man who defended the undefendable. I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! In this day and age we truly need him. Palin's freaky belief in creationism needs to be counteracted by one of the best minds of the 20th century...Clarence Darrow.

I wish I could travel back in time, put on my white person mask (I wouldn't want to be lynched), and watch him in action during the Scopes Trial. I wish, I wish.