The inspiring story of World War Two’s only Women’s Army Corps unit of color. Their motto – “No mail, low morale.”
Directed and written by Tyler Perry
Starring: Kerry Washington, Ebony Obsidian, Dean Norris, Sam Waterston, Oprah Winfrey
Running time: 127 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
The film is based on Kevin M. Hymel’s 2019 WWII History article Fighting a Two-Front War, on the contributions of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, a 855 all-Black and all-female battalion in World War II. It tells the inspiring true story of the incredible brave women of the first and only Women’s Army Corps unit of color to be stationed overseas during World War II.
The film tells the story of Lena Derriecott King, a former member of the group who died at the age of 100 in January 2024 and is played by Ebony Obsidian ‘Lena’ in the film. Lena lives in Philadelphia and is in love with a Jewish man Abram, where the relationship is frowned upon. Abram enlists in the war effort and is soon killed in action. Lena is naturally heart broken and soon after her school graduation enlists in the army to both serve her country and in memory of her late beloved.
Lena goes for training in Georgia under the able leadership of Captain Charity Adams played by Kerry Washington. Under rigorous training she learns the rules of fighting in a war. However, months later the battalion remains un-deployed as black women were considered unsuitable for front line duty while their white women counterparts were not.
This paralysis of the 6888 battalion continues under a racist military leadership until a West Virginia mother stations herself outside the White House in protest of her mail not being answered by her two sons who were on the battlefront. She eventually catches the eye of Eleanor Roosevelt (Susan Sarandon) who convinces President Roosevelt (Sam Waterson) to convene a meeting with two high ranking Generals in the presence of herself and Mary MacLeod Bethune (Oprah Winfrey). Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an African-American educator, philanthropist, humanitarian, feminist, and civil rights activist. Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women in 1935.
At the meeting, one of the general explains that it had become a logistical nightmare for them to deliver and collect mail from the war front despite engaging several units including a women’s unit. Their priority he says was to maintain the momentum on the war front rather than delivering mail. The intervention of Mary Macleod convinces the President that the 6888 battalion would be best placed to carry out this task and so the battalion is finally deployed.
The 6888 battalion are transported to Europe in a private vessel without a militarily escort in another act of sheer racism. On landing the battalion meets the racist commanding officer General Halt. They are assigned to a disused, rat-infested, unheated grammar school and given six months to turn the school into a post office and barracks and clear a two-year backlog of undelivered mail.
A few months later the battalion realises that most of their mail was still not being delivered to the front-lines due to multiple cases of identical names, multiple locator cards for soldiers on the move, rats damaging addresses and their contents and mold, among other things. They soon find a way to overcome these challenges. In the sorting out process women in the battalion find a letter by Lena’s ex-beloved Abram and Lena is finally ‘reunited’ with her lover and visits his grave.
And just as things are beginning to look up in the mail sorting process, President Roosevelt dies in the US, thereby giving the racist General Halt the perfect excuse to close down the entire project. An impromptu visit to the barracks leaves the General dumbfounded by the progress the 6888 had made in not only cracking the formula to successfully delivering the mail but the logistical arrangements the battalion had put into place to make the barracks a liveable, sustainable and comfortable to place to work and live in. His attempt to close down the barracks is foiled by a surprising turn of events. History records that by the end of the war, the 6888 had successfully sorted out a backlog of two years of mail of a total of 17 million pieces in just 90 days. They were later sent to Rouen, France, to clear another backlog.
The Community intervenes
During the filming process One local resident asked what the team was working on; upon learning it was a film about the 6888, “…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.”
Recognition and Tributes
In 2018, a monument to the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was dedicated at the Buffalo Soldier Monument Park at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Since Lena Derriecott King death aged 100 in January 2024, only two members of the 6888th Battalion now remain alive: Fannie McClendon and Anna Mae Robertson.
President Joe Biden presented the 6888 with the Congressional Gold Medal in 2022. Several 6888 Veterans—including Alyce Dixon, Mary Ragland, and Gladys Shuster Carter—were recognized by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009 for their service to the nation.
Read more about their legacy and later accolades here .
The film has been recognized by the Hollywood Music in Media Awards, Celebration of Cinema and Television and the African American Film critics award for Original Score and Best Original song, Icon award and Beacon award respectively. It’s a must watch for anyone interested in learning about hidden histories, the resilience of women and the triumph of the human spirit in a torturous and cruel time.
Reviewed by
Zahid Rajan
zahid@awaazmagazine.com
7 January 2025.
