Inherit the Wind
In 1955, Inherit the Wind debuted in Dallas, Texas, and it dramatized the events of the Scopes Trial and pointed to its influence on the Joseph McCarthy trials, or McCarthyism, that were occuring in the 1950s. The Carousel Theater at UT Knoxville decided to put on the play just three years after its debut. In the winter of 1958, Inherit the Wind drew in crowds to Knoxville to view the sensational play. In the spring of 2001, the Clarence Brown Theater put on the second production of Inherit the Wind at the University.
Image of the first page of the playbill from 1958. Image of the first page of the playbill from 2001.
Inherit the Wind Digital Resources
Legacies
After the Scopes Trial of 1925, educators across the state made decisions on how to teach around Darwinism and evolution. In the town of Dayton, Scopes Trial Day has been celebrated on July 21st of each year since 1925. The image depicted on the right shows an invitation to the first public showing of "Inherit the Wind" in Dayton on Scopes Trial Day.
Inherit the Wind Archival Collections
- Inherit the Wind (Clarence Brown Theatre), 2001 February 2-17Part of a subseries of resources on University theater productions. Collection includes photographs, press clippings, audiovisual materials, and more.
- Scrapbook, Inherit the Wind, 1958 November 26-29, December 2-4From the Ellis Mayes Collection, features a scrapbook of materials related to Inherit the Wind. Ellis Mayes was an actress at the Carousel Theater for several decades.
