Texas Lone Star - JUNE 2016

Del Valle ISD Names New Elementary School after Former Slave

by Lauren M. Ivey-Muniz

When Del Valle ISD breaks ground on its ninth elementary school this summer, the district will begin the brick-and-mortar completion of a noble notion to honor the life of a two-time slave who became a successful businessman, landowner, and community patron. Board members of Del Valle ISD, just east of Austin, voted in November 2015 to name the district’s newest elementary campus Newton Collins Elementary School.

Freedom and Re-enslavement

The son of a white Irish man and an African American slave, Newton Isaac Collins Sr. was born into slavery in Birmingham, Alabama, on February 24, 1819. Although freed almost immediately after birth, Collins grew up in a time when most African American children were not given an opportunity to obtain a formal education.

This was not the case for Collins. His father made sure he
learned to read and write, and as Collins grew he appren-
ticed in carpentry. He became exceptionally skilled at his
trade and worked as a free man in Alabama.

In the 1840s, Collins’ father passed away, leaving his wife and five children behind. A few months later, Collins took more than $1,500 worth of gold coins with him to Texas to start a new life—only to be re-enslaved by George Parson after almost a lifetime of freedom.

At that time, the Collins family name was taken from him and he took on the Parson family name. Parson was kind to Collins and his family and took him as his slave in an effort to save him from others in the state who would not have been as sympathetic. Although a slave, Collins continued to practice carpentry, building homes and churches in the Central Texas area. Collins felt antipathy for his time as a slave in Texas; however, he named one of his sons after Parson because he was grateful for the kindness that was afforded him and his family.