KSHB 41's government accountability reporter Isabella Ledonne learned about this story through a 'Let's Talk' event in Liberty, where we hear directly from the community about what stories you would like to see. Share your story with Isabella.
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Everyone has that one teacher that you remember years after school ends. For one Liberty councilmember, he honors one of his biggest influences every year with a theatrical play.
82-year-old councilman Shelton Ponder remembers Mr. Clarence Edward Gantt as if he just got out of class at the Garrison School. Gantt was Ponder's middle school teacher and principal in the early 1950s.
"Mr. Gantt would be out here [in the parking lot] in his fine clothes, running around with us in this circle," Ponder said. "It was hilarious."
The Garrison School was established in 1877 to educate the Black community in Liberty. It remained one of Missouri's segregated schools until Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
Gantt taught his students more than mathematics. Under his leadership, Garrison School was able to build a new gymnasium.
"The greatest education Mr. Gantt gave us was how he carried himself," Ponder said. "Mr. Gantt was an educator, Mr. Gantt was a man and Mr. Gantt had dignity. That's what we saw all the time."
As a Black leader in Liberty during World War II and segregation, Gantt would often show up for his students outside the classroom.
“When [the school] had the fathers to come down on the football field, over at William Jewell, Mr. Gantt came down and stood with me," Ponder said. "He came right out of the stands. Nobody asked him. He just came down and stood with us."
That memory still stays with Ponder decades later.
"He wasn't perfect," Ponder said. "But for what he did for us education-wise, I put him right there with WB Dubois and John Hope."
Now, Ponder shares Gantt's lessons with the entire Liberty community through a one-man play. Ponder wrote, directed and stars in the yearly production at the Garrison School's Assembly Hall.
"I do this play because it's necessary, it's essential," Ponder said. "This is something that needed to be done because this is merely leaving a record."
"Mr. Gantt, Modified" goes through the story of a Black educator helping his students navigate success before and after segregation ended.
"[Gantt] never spent his time talking about the ignorant things that people were doing. Mr. Gantt was here to educate us," Ponder said. "We knew we belonged here."
For nearly 30 years, Ponder has embodied the spirit of his mentor, teacher and leader.
"I knew what he was up against," Ponder said. "It wasn't all roses. But he did it, and we walked away victorious."
Ponder will perform "Mr. Gantt, Modified" on Friday, Oct. 10, at the Garrison School in Liberty. Tickets can be bought at the door starting at 5:30 p.m.
"For what he gave, the little bit that I can do to showcase his legacy, that's the least I can do," Ponder said.
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