November 19, 2010

In 1966, Little Rock Central High School biology teacher Susan Epperson became the center of controversy as the plaintiff in the court case, Epperson v. Arkansas. Epperson contended that the Arkansas anti-evolution law, which outlawed the teaching of evolution in the public schools, violated the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. Though upheld by the Arkansas Supreme Court, the law was down struck by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967, thus settling the issue of the constitutionality of teaching evolutionary theory in the public schools, although controversy over the issue remains.