Almost a full century after the end of World War II, new stories about the quiet heroism of everyday individuals continue to come to light. Now Tyler Perry is tackling the war with his new film The Six Triple Eight, the story of the war’s only Women’s Army Corps unit of color, which stars Kerry Washington. Perry wrote and directed the project and produced it alongside Nicole Avant, Angi Bones, Tony L. Strickland, Keri Selig, and Carlota Espinosa.
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion contributed to the war effort in a unique way: by sorting through a three-year backlog of mail (17 million pieces of it!) that hadn’t been delivered to American soldiers far from home. In the face of discrimination and a vast, unfamiliar country divided by global conflict, these 855 women brought hope to the front lines.
“A lot of people do not want us to succeed,” Washington says as Captain Charity Adams in the film’s teaser. “We have the most to prove.”
But that’s exactly what they did. Given six months to complete the task, the 6888th accomplished their mission in less than 90 days, providing morale when the United States needed it most.
You can read on for a full briefing on the film.
The Six Triple Eight is now streaming on Netflix.
The Six Triple Eight tells the inspiring true story of the incredible and brave women of the first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to be stationed overseas during World War II.
During the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, star and executive producer Kerry Washington sat down with The Six Triple Eight producer Nicole Avant for a talk about legacy and impact in storytelling. “Every single person, Black, white, anywhere in between, male, female — anybody can see themselves in those characters,” Avant said. “Because all stories, to me, are human stories. Everything to me is about humanity.”
That humanity continued to shine through in unpredictable ways during the production of The Six Triple Eight. “I felt like these women were with us in this process,” Washington said. “You felt their spirit all the time.”
Little moments throughout filming reminded the crew of their place in history. One local resident asked what the team was working on; upon learning it was a film about the Six Triple Eight, he had a contribution to make. “He pulled out a trunk, and he opened it up,” Washington said. “And it was my character Charity Adams’ actual trunk. It had her uniforms, it had seeds from her victory garden. It had letters, it had pictures. It was unbelievable.”
“It was as if Charity was saying, ‘OK, I’m with you. I’m leading you through this. Let’s do it,’ ” writer and director Tyler Perry told Netflix.
Joining the cast is a star-studded ensemble worthy of the film’s real-life inspirations:
Yes. The 6888th Central Postal Directory was the first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to be stationed in Europe during World War II. When they were deployed to Europe in February 1945, the 855 women in the 6888th were handed a backlog of 17 million pieces of mail, some labeled with incorrect or incomplete addresses, and asked to ship it out in six months. Their motto? “No mail, low morale.” The task bore high emotional stakes; the families of servicemen at home had not received word from their loved ones in months. Working in three eight-hour shifts, the women of the 6888th set out to work.
Still, they faced nearly insurmountable odds. Despite the importance of their responsibilities, the battalion was put in segregated housing and relegated to poorly maintained buildings often lacking light and heat. Through sheer will and ingenuity, they remained undeterred, creating a community of their own, complete with a mess hall, hair salon, and refreshment bar. Within 90 days, they had accomplished their mission — in half the time allotted.
Decades later, the 6888th Battalion’s efforts have finally received the praise they deserve. In 2018, a monument to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was dedicated at the Buffalo Soldier Monument Park at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Perry was inspired to make The Six Triple Eight by a connection he made with Lena Derriecott King, a former member of the group who died at the age of 100 in January 2024. “We sat in her house for a couple of hours just talking, having a great conversation,” Perry said in a tribute video to King. “And when I left there, I had a whole movie in my mind that I wanted to write for her.” Some time before she died, Perry visited King and sat at her bedside and showed King an incomplete version of the film.
Ebony Obsidian, who plays King in The Six Triple Eight, was also grateful to get to spend time with her. “She taught me that no matter what you go through, you can still rise,” Obsidian told Netflix. “It’s really beautiful to see. I’m excited for people to see her story from the beginning, where she built her strength and her resilience and her joy and her compassion. This is a woman who deserves so much, and I’m very glad that we can give her this little bit of her story back and share it with everyone.”
Since King’s death, there are only two living members of the 6888th Battalion: Fannie McClendon and Anna Mae Robertson. In recent years, their story has finally been told. President Joe Biden presented the 6888th with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2022, and Perry’s script for The Six Triple Eight is based on a 2019 article by Kevin M. Hymel published in WWII History Magazine.
Charity Adams Earley was the commanding officer of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. In 2023, Adams became the first Black woman in US history to have an Army fort named after her: Fort Gregg-Adams in Prince George County, Virginia.
Washington’s casting as Adams in The Six Triple Eight was a moment of synchronicity. “I had been working with my social media team on a series called ‘Black Her Story,’” she told Netflix. “I was putting posts up in February and March for Black History Month and Women’s History Month dressed as different important Black women throughout history from Rosa Parks to Pam Grier. One of the women highlighted was Lena Derriecott King, who was a member of the real-life battalion.”
“When I saw the picture, I thought, ‘Wow, she’s Charity Adams,’ ”Perry said. “I’ve worked with her before. I know her acting ability. I know she can be off the charts, but I wanted to be able to bring her into a place that she had never been on film before. I’m so glad that I got a chance to put her in this role. She is incredible.”
Washington researched Adams extensively, reading her memoir, One Woman’s Army: A Black Office Remembers the WAC, multiple times to capture her voice and driving motivations. Creating the character we see in the film was a moving and inspiring experience for the performer. “I love that it took women, and Black women in particular, to understand that in order to be successful in the winning of freedom and justice, we have to stay strong in our hearts, and that without morale, without feeling a deeper connection to your loved ones, without being able to hear from your mother or your wife or family and friends or say to them, ‘I love you’ through the mail, that people’s hearts were getting small,” Washington said. “I love that Charity Adams came up with that, and I love that it’s in the film.”
The film features “The Journey,” an original song written by Diane Warren and performed by H.E.R., with choreography by Debbie Allen. Warren, who has penned 33 top-10 songs, was inspired to start writing the song even before seeing the finished film. “That’s the first time that that's ever happened,” she said. “I literally knew. In my mind, I saw the movie.”
“The Journey” has been nominated for an Academy Award for Original Song, marking Warren’s 16th Oscar nod. “Whenever I write a song for a movie, I write the song that I want to hear in the movie,” she added. “Their story was so powerful that I knew I had to write a great song.”
The Six Triple Eight was filmed in Atlanta, and Chattanooga, Tennessee, as well as on location in the United Kingdom. “I knew we had to go to Europe to get the feel of the movie,” Perry said. “The air is different in England. I knew in order to be able to tell this story and perfect it, I had to actually be on the ground that these women walked.”
Production designer Sharon Busse, who has worked with Perry on13 projects, meticulously replicated King Edward’s School — where the women worked and lived — as well as the war-torn streets of London. “In the history of my 41-year career in the industry, I’ve never worked on anything that is so important to me, and to my mother who lived through all that history,” Busse told Netflix. “The story is just incredible, and when I read the script, I started crying just at how beautiful it was.”
