• World War II drama from director Tyler Perry The Six Triple Eight tells the true story of an all-black unit in the Women’s Army Corps.
• They were given a seemingly impossible assignment abroad and prevailed despite racism and sexism.
• The main roles are played by Perry’s friends Kerry Washington and Oprah Winfrey.

Saving Private Ryan is saved, Pearl Harbor, A soldier’s story, Schindler’s List. Countless films about the Second World War tell emotional stories from different perspectives.

But Tyler Perry notices a glaring omission. “When I look at films set in that era,” he says, “there wasn’t a single one for black women.”

Finally they get their money’s worth. The six triple eight, Directed and co-written by Perry, the film tells the true story of the Women’s Army Corps’ only all-black unit that served in Europe during World War II.

Their mission was important but also seemingly impossible: The 855 women, led by Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington, also an executive producer), had six months to sort through a staggering 17 million pieces of undelivered mail lying in airplane hangars so soldiers could take them communicate with their worried families at home. “No mail, low morale” was the motto back then.

A Pennsylvania teenager, Lena Derriecott King – the centerpiece of the film – knew the agony of waiting for a loved one to respond and the devastation of receiving terrible news: her dear high school friend Abram was serving overseas and was killed in combat killed. King (Ebony Obsidian) disintegrated.

“She loved him very much,” Obsidian says. Then in 1943, the resilient young woman plucked up the courage and joined the war effort.

“She joined the Six Triple Eight to honor him,” says historian Kevin Hymel, who interviewed King for 2019 History magazine about the Second World War Item that Perry incorporated into the film.

After being hired, King met a diverse group of black women from across the United States, including Major Adams, a 26-year-old from South Carolina who exuded confidence beyond her years.

But despite Adams’ eagerness to serve overseas, her segregated unit – underestimated and dismissed by their white male military superiors – was forced to remain on U.S. soil.

That is until First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Susan Sarandon) and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune (Oprah Winfrey) pressured Army leaders to give black women the opportunity to prove their skills.

Bethune, who had Roosevelt’s ear, “was such a champion of women’s rights and knew who Charity Adams was — she knew she could handle that responsibility,” Hymel says.

But despite the support of Roosevelt and Bethune, the women were doomed by military leaders after crossing to England. “They didn’t send us because they thought we could do it. We’re here because they’re sure we can’t,” Adams tells her unit in the film.

“They received no training and poor facilities,” Hymel notes of the women who worked in damp, rat-infested buildings with no heat. Threats came from enemies and supposed comrades-in-arms: German bombers buzzed overhead while racist US soldiers threatened the women.

According to Hymel, a general told Adams, “I’m going to get rid of you and replace you with a white woman.” He says another white soldier “scared” King by calling her the N-word at a military dance.

The poor conditions united members of the Six Triple Eight – the unofficial name of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion – who completed their mission early.

“They are not only united by the common path of becoming soldiers together,” says Washington. “They were also united against the forces of misogyny and racism within our own armed forces. So there was an unbreakable sisterhood.”

This carried over to the set of the film. One day, when there was a break, Washington and actress, producer and dancer Debbie Allen, the film’s choreographer, held a live “Ask me anything” session with the cast.

“We said, ‘What do you want to know?’ We talked about balancing children and work. We talked about where we found our husbands,” recalls Washington, who has three children with her husband, actor and former NFL star Nnamdi Asomugha. “We talked about everything and it was such a gift.”

However, there wasn’t much time to hang out. Perry filmed quickly, wanting to show King, one of the last surviving members of the unit, the final part of their story. Washington marveled at Perry’s “efficiency” and brisk pace: “‘Well-oiled machine’ doesn’t even begin to describe it,” she says, smiling at the memory.

Like the women of the Six Triple Eight, Perry completed his mission and traveled to be with King at her home in Las Vegas before she died on January 18, 2024 at the age of 100.

He showed her the film on his iPad. “We were sitting there watching and she saluted the iPad and was right there,” Perry remembers. “Afterwards, she cried and said, ‘Thank you for letting the world know that black women contributed.’ ”

The Six Triple Eight is now streaming on Netflix.