Evelyn Preer

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Evelyn Preer
Preer c. 1920
Born	Evelyn Jarvis (1896-07-26)July 26, 1896 Vicksburg, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	November 17, 1932(1932-11-17) (aged 36) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Evelyn Preer Thompson
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	1919–1932
Spouses	Frank Preer ​ ​ (m. 1915; div. 1923)​ Edward Thompson ​ (m. 1924)​
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.^[1] 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.