Brought to you by Salt Spring Kayaking in partnership with University of Victoria

Details

Great Unsolved Mysteries in Canadian History project, based at the University of Victoria, the Université de Sherbrooke and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, is a series of instructional websites that draw you into Canadian history and archival research through the enticement of solving historical cold crimes.

This weeks’ challenge invites you to solve one of Canada's great unsolved mysteries – Who Killed William Robinson?

William Robinson was a real person, a Black American who was murdered on Salt Spring Island in the British Colony of British Columbia in 1868. He arrived in the colony a decade before as part of a group of Black Americans fleeing persecution and slavery in the years leading up to the American Civil War.

Robinson was one of three island residents killed in this small community in a space of less than two years. All three were Black. An Aboriginal man named Tshuanhusset, also called Tom, was charged with Robinson's murder, convicted and hanged, but a closer look at the evidence challenges the guilty verdict. Was Tshuanahusset guilty? Why was he convicted? If Tshuanahusset did not kill William Robinson, who did?

On the 'Who Killed William Robinson?' website you will find a complete a collection of historical documents about the death of William Robinson and the other two Black Americans killed in the same period, compiled by research assistants, their friends and colleagues.

The documents do not just tell about their deaths. "Who Killed William Robinson?" is just the first of the questions posed on this website. "How did he live?" is another. The website documents provide a rich social history of the Blacks, Aboriginal people, Kanakas (Hawaiians), and Whites of many national backgrounds, from Azorian Portugese to the British colonial elite who settled Salt Spring Island.

Their stories tell us much about the settlement of BC, Canada and to a degree, the United States. They tell about settlement, the importance of land, the dispossession of Aboriginal people, about justice, racism, family life, religion -- the full gamut of life in the colony.

The documents include newspaper stories, inquests, trial documents, private correspondence, diaries, paintings, artists' reconstructions and photographs. Altogether there is a whole archive: hundreds of pages of documents and nearly a hundred different images.

Here is your team challenge:

You and your team must solve the mystery of Who Killed William Robinson? Look at the evidence about the murder, from before, during, and after the trial. Use your research to re-evaluate Tom’s guilty verdict. Draw on this evidence and perform a retrial of Tom.

This challenge is more than just repeating what is already known about William Robinson and the history of British Columbia. Put yourself into the role of an investigative researcher when you review the historical evidence. As you interpret this raw information, try to understand it so you can answer the question ‘how do we know what happened?”

This challenge is a murder investigation. It’s critical that your investigation is logical and well planned. There is no room for assumption; it’s all about the evidence. What proof can you offer?

Suggested Steps:

1. Review the available evidence in the archive. The documents available for the William Robinson case include newspapers, trial transcripts, the judge’s bench notes, sworn statements, and letters. You have a limited amount of time. Carefully choose the documents you want to explore and follow the leads that interest your team.
2. Investigate the evidence by interpreting it from different perspectives - consider labour, legal, political, and social issues. During the week use your team blog and the Forum to communicate with the audience asking them for advice and opinions.
3. At the end of the week each team must submit its case for justice and present its argument to judge and jury that Tom either did or did not kill William Robinson. If he didn’t, who did? Defend your decision by showing your strategy and interpretations of evidence. Remember that in a criminal case, the defendant must be found guilty ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’, based on the evidence presented.
4. Your case for justice is to be submitted as an up to 5 min long Voice Thread. To submit your voice thread enter it's url into the body of the submit form (no uploads of massive files this week - yaaaaay.)

Remember:

1. Submissions must be made no later than Sunday February 24th at 8 pm.

2. Once you have created and saved your Voice Thread, you will be given both a URL and html code.

   When you submit your voice thread, scroll below the body and click on Input Format. Selct Full HTML. Then paste the embed code. This will make your story viewable on the event site. To be safe, also paste the URL. (See MadJackLogic's Entry from last week for clarification.)

3. Audience
   may vote on which submission they think is the best between Sunday,
   February 24th at 8pm and Tuesday February 26th at 11am
4. Judge scoring will take place from Sunday February 24th at 8 pm to Tuesday February 26th at noon. (extended)

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This Week's Prizes

SaltSpring Kayaking on SaltSpring Island, is sponsoring a one day kayaking adventure for each member of the team that wins this weeks challenge

Instructor Prize
Elluminate Live! is sponsoring a ten-user meeting room for one year (worth $3300) for the challenge instructor.