Evelyn Preer (born Evelyn Jarvis; July , â€" November , ), was a
pioneering African-American stage and screen actress and jazz and
blues singer of the s through the early s. 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 , in a
revival of a play adapted from Somerset Maugham's Rain.Evelyn Jarvis
was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July , . After her father died
prematurely, she moved with her mother and her three other siblings to
Chicago, Illinois. She completed grammar school and high school in
Chicago. Her early experiences in Vaudeville and "street preaching"
with her mother are what jump-started her acting career.
pioneering African-American stage and screen actress and jazz and
blues singer of the s through the early s. 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 , in a
revival of a play adapted from Somerset Maugham's Rain.Evelyn Jarvis
was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi on July , . After her father died
prematurely, she moved with her mother and her three other siblings to
Chicago, Illinois. She completed grammar school and high school in
Chicago. Her early experiences in Vaudeville and "street preaching"
with her mother are what jump-started her acting career.
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