Evelyn Preer

As she appeared in a scene from Oscar Micheaux's film Homesteader. It was the first full length feature directed by a black film director. This was also the film debut of Ms. Preer. Unfortunately the film has been lost .. hopefully it will be discovered in someones attic in pristine condition.

Synopsis: The story of a Black pioneer's life as a South Dakota rancher. Out of loneliness, he marries the daughter of a vain Black clergyman, forsaking his true love, a Scottish woman, to avoid social stigma and trouble with the law. The marriage sours owing to interference by his hostile father-in-law. The rancher's wife goes insane and kills her father and herself. The authorities arrest the pioneer for both murders, but his first love hires detectives who prove his innocence. There is also a happy ending when it is revealed that the Scottish woman is in fact a light complected black woman thus clearing the way for them to be together.

Image: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture / Photographs and Prints Division