James A. Gay, Marion Lee Pearley, Clarence E. Gantt, and Zelma Mabery Williams were influential African American educators and community leaders in Liberty whose work centered on Garrison School and the broader advancement of African American students and families. Born in 1882 in Fayette, Georgia, James A. Gay overcame childhood orphanhood, studied at Langston University and Lincoln University, taught Latin and Greek, and came to Liberty to teach at Old Rock Church School before helping shape the new Garrison School built in 1911 and leading it for 22 years. Under his administration, Garrison became known as one of Missouri’s best schools for African American students, while he also tutored William Jewel students, taught night school to local African American adults, later served from 1933 through 1942 as an Educational Advisory for the Civilian Conservation Corps, and remained active in church and community life. Marion Lee Pearley, born in 1896 and educated at Lincoln Institute, taught at Garrison for 30 years and was remembered as a strict disciplinarian devoted to scholarship who also helped organize annual fashion revues and school plays. She broke barriers as the first African American admitted to the Liberty Branch of the American Association of University Women, helped lead community life in New Liberia with a family that provided recreation for African American youth during the Great Depression and World War II, organized the first African American girl scout troop in the Liberty area, took students on cultural trips during segregation, and served for many years at St. Luke A.M.E. Church. Clarence E. Gantt, born in 1903 and educated at Lincoln University, was a mathematics teacher, coach, and principal of Garrison beginning in 1933. Before becoming principal, he coached the Garrison Wonder Team to the 1932 Missouri State Football Championship, and under his leadership a new gymnasium was built in 1938 and local support was won for a school bond issue on September 27th, 1938 to improve facilities for African American students who had long lacked adequate resources. After school desegregation in 1954, he was offered only a study hall teaching job despite his qualifications, then continued teaching and public service in Liberty and Kansas City while remaining active in church and the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge. Zelma Mabery Williams, born in 1923, attended Garrison School, later worked as a Head Start teacher and as a nursing assistant at Crystal Lane Nursing Center, and raised four children in a single-parent household while building a life of service through First Baptist Church and Club 14, a women’s social group formed because segregated Liberty offered no community centers or event spaces for African American women. Together, their lives reflect education, faith, service, and perseverance in Liberty’s African American community.