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. Perry writes and directs in his fifth project, starring Kerry Washington, for Netflix.
The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion contributed to the war effort in a unique way: by sorting through a three-year backlog of undelivered mail and delivering the mail 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. “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.
In recent years, the story of the 6888th Battalion has finally been told. President Joe Biden presented the 6888th with the Congressional Medal of Honor in 2022, and Perry’s script is based on a 2019 article by Kevin M. Hymel published in WWII History Magazine. You can read on for a full briefing on the film.
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.
On a recent evening at the 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.”
Joining the cast is a star-studded ensemble worthy of the film’s real-life inspirations. Headed up by Washington, the cast also includes Ebony Obsidian, Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Moriah Brown, Jeanté Godlock, Jay Reeves, Jeffery Johnson, Baadja-Lyne Odums, Donna Biscoe, Gregg Sulkin, Scott Daniel Johnson, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston, Susan Sarandon, and Oprah Winfrey. Yes, that Oprah Winfrey.
Washington’s casting was another moment of synchronicity. “During Covid, we did this series on Instagram where I was sort of dressed because I was bored,” Washington recalled to Avant. “And it was Black History Month and Women’s History Month. So we did Black Herstory, where I was dressing up as all of these incredible Black women through history. And one of them was Lena, who is [a] central character in the battalion.”
“That was a sign for me,” Avant told the Tribeca audience. “I remember calling Tyler, and I said, ‘This is Kerry Washington’s role, period. It has to be Kerry Washington.’ ” And so it was.
The Six Triple Eight is coming to Netflix this year; keep an eye on the mail for more news.
