Photo of Horace Scull
About the Family
In 1865, an African-American man named Horace Scull learned he was free from enslavement. With this freedom, he gathered his wife Emily and their children and brought them from Bolivar to Galveston.
Later in life, his son, Ralph Albert Scull, made the decision to start writing nightly before bed. Having been only 5 years old himself when moving to the island, he documented his lifelong experience as well as the progress of other African Americans in Galveston. From education, politics, and the arts, his granddaughter Mrs. Izola Collins intertwined his writings along with her personal time with him and her experiences, interviews and observations.
On one trip, crossing the ferry from Galveston to Bolivar, she recounts the following:
“Could Horace have possibly dreamed that his son Ralph would have two boys and a girl survive to adulthood? That Ralph’s girl, Viola, would be the one to follow in her father’s footsteps, teaching all of her life too, right here in Galveston, the promised land? That Viola’s daughters, Florence and Izola would end up as teachers too, themselves raising families in Galveston? That some of their children would also teach, and that Florence’s husband Theasel Henderson, would be elected as the first African-American member of the school district’s Board of Trustees? That 18 years after his resignation, Izola, in retirement would be the third African American to be elected at large - by the whole city of Galveston - three times to a position on the board?”
Now, almost 160 years after Horace moved his family to Galveston, 5th, 6th and 7th generation descendants dot the world as journalists, preachers, lawyers, writers, multimedia professionals, artists, doctors, community advocates, students, musicians, and of course, teachers.
“In spite of the nightmare of shelling and invasion during the war, Galveston had resisted decay. Galveston was a haven, an oasis from grief, and Black people of differing nationalities walked the streets.”
About Mrs. Collins
Izola Ethel Fedford Collins was born in the family home in Galveston, Texas on October 26, 1929, educated in the Galveston school system. After graduating at the age of 14 as Salutatorian of the Central High School Class of 1944, she received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Prairie View University and the Master of Music degree from Northwestern University in Illinois. She organized and directed three school bands in Texas - Bay City, Hitchcock, and Galveston Catholic. Retiring from Galveston ISD as an award-winning Choir instructor, she then was elected city-wide to the GISD Board of Trustees and served nine years, the last as president.
Mrs. Collins wrote articles published in “Southwestern Musician” [Texas Music Educators Association], “Fanfare” [School of Music of Northwestern University], the story of St. Mary’s Hospital [Galveston], poems in “The National Library of Poetry,” and is the author of Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started, two books of poetry, “Divine Light Never Goes Away” and "I Know That's Right," as well as a children’s book, “Pip, Squeak and Zoom”.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Roy Lester Collins Jr.
They are survived by their three children and their spouses: June Collins Pulliam; Roy L. Collins III and his wife, Gaylynn; and Cheryl Collins Crayton and her husband, Samuel C. Crayton Jr.; her eight grandchildren; her nephew and nieces, and their spouses: Theodore Henderson and his wife, Dolly; Diane Henderson Moore and her husband, Thomas; and Janice Henderson Albright and her husband, Tom; her grandnephews and nieces, as well as great-grandnephews and great-grandnieces.