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In celebration of Vicksburg’s bicentennial, a committee was formed to search out the individuals who played a role in molding and shaping the River City. This week those highlighted in the Vicksburg Post are Beah Richardson, Earl Wayne Simmons, Ellen Gilcrist, The Rev. Herman D. “Preacher” Dennis, Mart Crowley and R.G. LeTourneau.

Beah Richards

Beah Richards was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was also a poet, playwright, author and activist. Richards was born in Vicksburg on July 12, 1920 and graduated from Dillard University in New Orleans. Two years later, she moved to New York City. Richards was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her supporting role in the film “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” in 1968, as well as winning two Primetime Emmy Awards for her guest roles in the television series “Frank’s Place” in 1988 and “The Practice” in 2000. She also received a Tony Award nomination for her performance in the 1965 production of “The Amen Corner.” Richards died from emphysema in her hometown of Vicksburg at the age of 80, less than a month after winning an Emmy Award. In the last year of her life, Richards was the subject of a documentary created by actress LisaGay Hamilton. The documentary “Beah: A Black Woman Speaks” was created from over 70 hours of their conversations. The film won the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Film Festival.

Earl Wayne Simmons

Earl Wayne Simmons was born in 1956 in Bovina and is known for his unique art style and his rebuilt art shop. Simmons created art from discarded materials focusing on popular culture icons and Mississippi-centric themes. Earl’s Art Shop became a destination for tourists and a roadside stop for travelers. Nearly all of the building was open to the public, guided by hand-painted signs. In 1994 the Mississippi Arts Commission awarded Simmons an Artist Fellowship, and he began working on a major addition to the front of the Art Shop. In 2002 fire destroyed all thirty rooms of Simmons’s hand-built home, workshop, and art gallery as well as numerous artworks and his stockpile of materials. Simmons rebuilt, but fire again destroyed his home and workshop in 2012. Currently Simmons lives in a FEMA trailer and works outdoors continuously adding on to the trailer. As a pop culture icon, art enthusiasts can find his works at The Attic Gallery.

Ellen Gilcrist

Ellen Gilcrist, born in Vicksburg in 1935, was an American novelist, short story writer and poet. She began her writing career at the age of 11, with a weekly newspaper column called “Chit and Chat About This and That” and continued writing until her death in 2024. Gilchrist published more than 26 books translated into multiple languages, including collections of poetry, novels, short stories, novellas, essays, plays, as well as articles and socio-political commentary. She won the 1984 National Book Award for “Victory Over Japan” and gained critical acclaim for her novel, “The Annunciation”. Gilchrist was also a decades long contributor on NPR’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.” Her writing is noted for its honest human elements, telling humor, rich detail, and strong, independent female characters, who grew and re-occurred throughout her work overtime.

The Rev. Herman D. “Preacher” Dennis

Rev. Herman D. “Preacher” Dennis helped craft the world-renowned Margaret’s Grocery, which was located on North Washington Street. Preacher Dennis and his wife, Margaret, built the colorful castle in the 1980s and 1990s by using a kaleidoscope of red-, white-, pink- and yellow-painted concrete blocks, Styrofoam balls and blocks, cardboard tubes, hand-lettered signs, bottle caps and other common items. The site also featured a former school bus that Preacher Dennis turned into a chapel. Inside the store, Preacher replaced items on the shelves with candelabras and Menorahs, trinkets, religious articles and a replica of the Ark of the Covenant and 10 Commandments tablets. Outside, he affixed hand-lettered signs with Biblical quotes welcoming all Jews and Gentiles. In its heyday, Margaret’s Grocery drew visitors from around the world.

Mart Crowley

Mart Crowley, an American playwright, was born in 1935 in Vicksburg. He graduated from Catholic University of America in 1957 in Washington D.C. In the 1960’s, he worked in California for many television companies and from 1964 to 1966, he was secretary for actress Natalie Wood. Crowley is primarily known for his landmark play, “The Boys in the Band,” which is considered a landmark in LGBTQ+ representation in the arts according to the Mississippi Encyclopedia. In 1970, “The Boys in the Band” was adapted into a film that was directed by William Friedkin. In 2018, it was restaged on Broadway in a 50th anniversary revival. In 2002, Crowley wrote a sequel to “The Boys in the Band” which was entitled “The Men from the Boys.” In 1979 and 1980, Crowley served first as the executive script editor and then producer of the ABC series “Hart to Hart,” starring Wood’s husband Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers. His other credits include the teleplays for “There Must Be a Pony” (1986), “Bluegrass” (1988), “People Like Us” (1990), a reunion special of “Hart to Hart” in 1996 and stage play “For Reasons That Remain Unclear” (1993).  Crowley also wrote and produced “Remote Asylum” and the autobiographical “A Breeze from the Gulf.” Crowley has appeared in at least four documentaries: “The Celluloid Closet” (1995), “Dominick Dunne: After the Party” (2007), “Dominick Dunne; Making the Boys” (2011) and “The Boys in the Band: Something Personal” (2020), a documentary about the 2020 Netflix film of the play. Crowley died in Manhattan on March 7, 2020, while recovering from a heart attack.

R.G. LeTourneau

In 1942. R. G. LeTourneau, the man largely responsible for the invention and development of earth-moving machines in wide use today, built his fourth manufacturing plant in Vicksburg. He brought with him a small group of talented men including Clyde Wilson and Eddie Florell. LeTourneau’s factories supplied bomb casings and 70 percent of all heavy earth-moving equipment used by Allied forces during World War II. In 1955, he built his first mobile off-shore jack-up drilling rig at the Vicksburg plant for Zapata Drilling. During the 70s, as many as seven rigs were under construction by a workforce exceeding 2,000. To house the increasing population of employees in Vicksburg, he built a village complete with grocery store, post office, beauty shop, credit union, swimming pool, tennis courts, ball fields, airstrip, and concrete houses with heated floors, which were fabricated with a machine of his design.

More History

Old Post Files: June 27, 1925-2015

Old Post Files: June 25, 1925-2015

Looking Back: a history of 2901 Drummond St.

Old Post Files: June 21, 1925-2015