EVOLUTION, CREATIONISM
AND PENSACOLA


Students file past the 60' tall bronze statue on the old slag heap at the abandoned coal mines on Nine Mile Road in Pensacola. Many newcomers to Pensacola are unaware of the history and controversy surrounding this magnificent work of art.  The sculpture and surrounding park are now owned and operated by Escambia University. 



Some, of course, think the statue is a commemoration of the great battle over the teaching of evolution in Pensacola Schools in 1913. At the heart of the struggle was John "Scopes" Potemkin, biology teacher at Nine Mile High School. I'm sure many of you will immediately jump to the conclusion that this whole affair is related to the so called Scopes Monkey Trial in Dayton, Tennessee. Nothing could be further from the truth. For one thing, the Pensacola controversy and subsequent trial, occurred almost a dozen years before the famous event in Tennessee. For another factor, it is widely considered that Mr. Potemkin was a rather inept biologist at best and the nickname "Scopes" was derisively applied to him.
This photo actually earned Mr. Potemkin the sarcastic nickname of "Scopes."  It is a photo he took through his microscope and sent off to the National Science Foundation.  He claimed to have discovered a hard shelled,  super paramecium type creature among the usual amoebae and other micro organisms he was attempting to study.  "Scopes" was short for microscopes.

Even that wouldn't have been so bad had he not earlier "discovered" a super observant one-eyed micro organism and sent this picture to the Smithsonian Institute for verification. Of course it would later be established to be the reflection of his own eye and not a super strain of eye lashed amoebae.

You can thus see that the stage was aptly set for what happened next. The Nine Mile Board Of Education was quite open minded and socially aware for that era. (Nine Mile had integrated schools well before many surrounding districts even recognized the responsibility.) In the Fall of 1913, the board ordered all science teachers to incorporate the teaching of evolution in their classrooms. Mr. Potemkin immediately saw a chance to redeem his reputation. Surrounding himself with many local preachers and other religious extremists who'd never read a science book, Potemkin led a noisy protest. Refusing to allow the mention of the word evolution in his classroom, he was eventually fired.  He then sued the school board. The subsequent trial was dubbed "The Pensacola Monkey Trial," possibly as a comment about the courtroom antics of Mr. Potemkin and his fundamentalist supporters. They constantly interrupted expert testimony about evolution by making chimpanzee sounds and leaping about the courtroom, eating bananas and preening each other's scalps for lice.

The Potemkin group was represented by Robert "Boob" Daft who was not a lawyer but was a wannabe politician. The school board chose to represented by the superintendent of schools. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the school board and Potemkin's firing was upheld. The entire episode was made into a movie script and filmed under the poorly chosen title "Break The Wind."  Spencer Potemkin wrote, directed and starred in the movie which has become a cult classic.  However,  it was otherwise quite unsuccessful at the box office. 

Potemkin went on to become vice president of Escambia University where he would eventually fire all of the astronomy professors—calling them "the Devil's Minions" for suggesting the world was round. He would also fire the successful basketball coach saying: "He's taunting me about the flat earth by continuing to use a round ball. This university will reflect how I see the world no matter who get's hurt or how stupid I look."   He thus set a standard for big time ministers and presidents of religious schools that continues to this day in some states.



Let's get back to the story of the statue. Potemkin wanted to spend the left over money from his defense fund to memorialize the event and make one more jab at his former employers. He wanted to have a statue created that would forever be an argument against evolution. The drawing at the right is the original and depicts Potemkin examining an ancient skull. Unfortunately, he had more than a little trouble in communicating his desires to a local contractor named Fitzhugh Potemkin (a distant cousin). His casual phone comment that "It's colder'n a big brass monkey" was unfortunately heard as "Fitz, order in a big brass monkey." The result sits on Nine Mile Rd.