Black Arts and Culture

The Six Triple Eight Story

Discover the heroic legacy of the Six Triple Eight, the first Black Women’s Army Corps unit deployed overseas in WWII, now celebrated in Tyler Perry’s new Netflix film.

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New Journal and Guide Staff

It has been 80 years since the first United States Women’s Army Corps unit of Black women were sent to serve overseas during World War II. Their fascinating story is largely unknown to the general public.

Tyler Perry heard their story for the first time a few years ago and was so moved, he set out to produce and direct a movie about the Six Triple 8 women. It is now a Netflix movie streaming to the public beginning December 20, 2024.

This is another hidden and neglected true story of Black heroism that was in the pages of the Black Press, including the New Journal and Guide of Norfolk,. Va., as the story unfolded in 1945. Our photo and article archival collection provide documentation. While Black men and white women were late in being alllowed to serve the United States abroad, Black women were excluded for overseas duty throughout most of WWII. However, under political pressure from legislators like Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., the NAACP, the Black Press, and even President Roosevelt, the US War Department was forced to deploy Black women to the European theater in 1945.  African American women from every socioeconomic stratum answered the call to serve from all over the country, including Norfolk, Va.,. They were stationed in France and England at the end of World War II.

The 688th WACS were sent to Europe on mission to unravel and clear up a six-month backlog of mail sent to American troops. It was a near impossible task, but the women under the leadership of Major Charity Adams accomplished the mission in three months.

Kerry Washington plays the lead role as Charity Adams, for whom the Fort Gregg-Adams Army base in Virginia (former Fort Lee) was renamed in 2022.  President Joe Biden presented the 6888th with the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2022. The commendation noted, “ ‘No mail, low morale’ was the motto they gave themselves, and they fulfilled the promise of delivered mail (17 million pieces of it!) and morale when the United States needed it most.”