Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started

Island of Color: Where Juneteenth Started is a compelling firsthand chronicle of Galveston’s African American legacy—told through the voice of Izola Ethel Fedford Collins, a fifth-generation native whose family helped shape the cultural and civic foundation of Texas. Through intimate memoir and documented history, Collins uncovers the untold story of the people who lived, led, and lifted a community in the shadow of slavery and the dawn of freedom.

On the island of Galveston, Texas, the news of the Emancipation Proclamation arrived in June 1865—first whispered by deckhands and later declared publicly by General Granger at Ashton Villa. That moment, now known as Juneteenth, became a defining symbol of liberty for millions. But this story began long before the official order was read. Galveston was already home to free people of color, and its African American residents were pioneers in education, medicine, business, and faith.

Collins preserves the legacy of her grandfather—a freedman who came to Galveston as a child—and combines his handwritten accounts with community interviews and rich personal memory. The result is a powerful, living document that restores color to faded historical records and honors the voices too long left out of the official narrative.

Whether you're an educator, historian, student, or reader of memoirs, Island of Color invites you to rediscover the roots of Juneteenth and the vital contributions of Black Texans in one of America's most historic port cities.

Izola Ethel Fedford Collins was born in the family home in Galveston, Texas on October 26, 1929, educated in the Galveston school system. 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.

Ms. Collins has written 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 has her own book of poetry, "Divine Light Never Goes Away". She was married to Roy Lester Collins, Jr., now deceased, and has three children - June, Roy III, and Cheryl, who have given them eight grandchildren.