Six Triple Eight—Hidden Figures?

Based on journalist Kevin M. Hymel’s 2019 article “Fighting a Two-Front War,” Six Triple Eight  follows  the inspiring story of 855 women who overcame immense barriers to sort over seventeen million pieces of backlogged mail.  Sorting the mail became a priority to boost morale by ensuring soldiers stayed connected with loved ones. Their contributions, though largely forgotten by history, are brought to life in this powerful film.

In this Tyler Perry WWII drama,  the only all-Black, all-female US WAC (Women’s Army Corps) unit of color –the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion–is given an ostensibly impossible mission:  to deliver mail to all soldiers serving in units not easily reached and with almost no information of unit matched with soldier.    The impossible is made possible in the face of complicated logistics and handling of misinformation or no information at all. 

The White commander assumes the women cannot accomplish the task of successfully delivering the mail, a mission at first he considers insignificant but will be demonstrated to be of primary importance for maintaining soldiers’ morale.   Overcoming significant racist and tactical barriers  to sort over seventeen million pieces of backlogged mail, the 6888th heroically and brilliantly do the detective work to match mail–often with no complete address–to soldiers enabling them to sustain morale through  connection with their loved ones.  Army Major Charity Adams (Kerry Washington), who finished the war as a lieutenant colonel, becomes the highest-ranking Black woman during the war.  In sharp contrast, her haughty self-congratulatory commander fails to see the value, importance and respect due to accomplishing the delivery of mail. It takes Eleanor Roosevelt (Susan Sarandon) and influential philanthropist educator, and activist Mary McLeod Bethune (Oprah Winfrey) to convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Sam Waterston) to press the general into using Black female soldiers to address the mountains of undelivered mail sitting in airplane hangars in Scotland.

Six Triple Eight  is laser-focused on the  sense of solidarity and sisterhood, including a stellar supporting cast, particularly Ebony Obsidian playing  Lena Derriecott King. 

Ultimately, Six Triple Eight is a reminder that history is often written by those who are the loudest, not those who did the heavy lifting.  The quieter–sometimes silenced voices–are becoming less forgotten as the unsung heroes and hidden figures are beginning to be  revealed and history is corrected and made more complete.

Availability:  Netflix

Note:  Over seventy years later, several 6888th veterans—including Charity Adams, Alyce Dixon, Mary Ragland, and Gladys Shuster Carter—were recognized by President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009 for their service. 

Note 2: On Feb. 28, 2022 the House of Representatives passed legislation to award the  Congressional Gold Medal to the 6888th. President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan bill on March 22. The  honor will cement the 6888th place in US  history.