From jlutz@uvic.ca Thu Sep 11 13:52:07 1997
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 1997 10:56:31 -0700
From: John Lutz <jlutz@uvic.ca>
To: Melanie Shell <conference@h-net.msu.edu>, sandwell@sfu.ca
Cc: sandwell@sfu.ca
Subject: Re: Envisioning the Future Conference


>
>* Your name -- or names, if there will be more than one presenter -- as
>you would like it to appear in the conference program;

>
>* Title and Affiliation of presenter(s);


John Lutz, History Department, University of Victoria
Ruth Sandwell, History Department, Simon Fraser University

>
>* The title of your paper/presentation, as you would like it to appear in
>the conference program;


Who Killed William Robinson?  Race, Justice and Settling the Land

	A Web-Based Teaching Tool for 
	Canadian and British Columbian History
>
>* A brief biography (of one or two paragraphs) and/or URL for a personal
>homepage for presenters;

Ruth Sandwell is just completing her doctorate at Simon Fraser University in
Vancouver, B.C.  She is the author of several articles that are re-opening
the field of Rural History as a means of re-examining Canadian history in
the 19th and 20th centuries.  Ruth is one of the co-originators of the Who
Killed William Robinson Web site, a Yahoo Canadian Pick of the Week.

John Lutz teaches the history of the Pacific Northwest at the University of
Victoria, on Vancouver Island, Canada.  His research focuses on the history
of racial relations in the Pacific Northwest and on Aborignal-non-aboriginal
relations.  John is one of the co-originators of the Who Killed William
Robinson Web site, a Yahoo Canadian Pick of the Week.
>
>* OPTIONAL: Two or three paragraphs describing your own project. These
>paragraphs will be included as live links from the conference program on
>the website.
>

	Between December 1867 and December 1868, a small rural community colonial
British Columbia was the scene of three brutal, seemingly unconnected
murders.  All of the victims of these Salt Spring Island murders were
members of the island's Black community, and Aboriginal People were widely
blamed for all of the deaths.  An Aboriginal man, Tschuanahusset, was
convicted and hanged in the only case brought to trial.  Afterwards,
compelling evidence came to light suggesting that he was not the murderer.

	"Who Killed William Robinson?" is a web site designed to engage students at
different levels in a detailed investigation of one of these murders.  In
solving the mystery, they will be examine the real lives of ordinary people
who lived in the mid-nineteenth century, down to the detail of how they
dressed, what they owned, even what they ate for supper.  Taking full
advantage of the non-linear and graphic features of World Wide Web, this
educational site draws students into historical research through the use of
newspaper clippings, photographs, maps, diaries, animation,  and some
written narrative. 

______________________________

John Lutz, jlutz@uvic.ca
History Department
University of Victoria
PO 3045, Victoria, B.C. 
Canada, V8W 3P4
250-595-4960; fax 250-595-0204