Evelyn Preer
Evelyn Preer | |
|---|---|
Preer c. 1920 | |
| Born | Evelyn Jarvis July 26, 1896 Vicksburg, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | November 17, 1932 (aged 36) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Evelyn Preer Thompson |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1919–1932 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Francesca Thompson |
Evelyn Preer (née Jarvis; July 26, 1896 – November 17, 1932), was an African American pioneering screen and stage actress, and jazz and blues singer in Hollywood during the late-1910s through the early 1930s. Preer was known within the Black community as "The First Lady of the Screen."
She was the first Black actress to earn celebrity and popularity. She appeared in ground-breaking films and stage productions, such as the first play by a black playwright to be produced on Broadway, and the first New York–style production with a black cast in California in 1928, in a revival of a play adapted from Somerset Maugham's Rain.