Early Fundamentalism was not characterized by a denial of evolution, necessarily. What was distinctive was a belief that there 5 doctrines that were "fundamental" to the Christian faith (inerrancy of Scriptures, deity of Christ, virgin birth, substitutionary atonement, supernatural miracles, etc.), and that liberal scholars, with the newer "German" historical-critical method, somehow had denied these fundamental and essential beliefs, and could no longer be considered Christians in any meaningful sense. They tried to launch heresy trials to try to use against professors they suspected of being in violation of their "fundamentals", but eventually, after losing the battle, they left the mainline denominations and formed their own alternative institutions.
In reality, Fundamentalists were being funded by wealthy oil barons who were opposed to progressive politics and the so-called "Social Gospel", which sometimes used the newer German critical tools in support of progressive political readings of the Scriptures that emphasized less personal salvation and the hereafter ,and more about the Kingdom of God as an immanent reality in this world.
If you are in one of the many generally smaller Evangelical churches in the US today (the largest isn't actually small at all, being the Southern Baptist Convention, which caved in to the Fundamentalists in the 1970's), you are most likely in a church where Fundamentalism is being preached and enculturated, to some extent or another, and that is why I use that term, referring to the historical usage, and not in any way to implying anything other than that. Fundamentalism is, and has been, a distinct social and theological movement within American Protestantism, and must be distinguished from the established Mainline churches in the US that do not necessarily reject things like higher criticism of the Bible, and that while we hold to the historic Christian faith, we do not believe any particular doctrines can be considered essential or fundamental over others.
