MAJOR CHARITY ADAMS EARLY (12/5/1918- 1/13/2002)
The Hero Behind the “The Six Triple Eight” Netflix film
“We have tried to teach you right from wrong. Just do right.”
It’s not often I gain mind-blowing historical knowledge from a Netflix movie, at least to that extent that I’m propelled to run to the internet and check the facts and references. If Major Charity Adams was as exemplary as the movie portrayed her, I would’ve heard about her bravery by now. No? Sadly not, she only recently became acknowledged for her war efforts. First, in 2018 when a bust of Major Adams was erected in the Buffalo Soldier Military Park in Kansas along with other African-American individuals and their units. Then again in 2019, the House of Representatives passed legislature to award the 6888th the Congressional Gold Medal. Recently Major Adams fame blossomed when the bio-pic “The Six-Triple Eight (6888)” was released on Netflix.
The 6888, written and directed by Tyler Perry and starring Kerry Washington, tells the story of Major Charity Adams, a WAC officer, who served during WW11. This wonderful film didn’t need to fictionalize or embellish Major Adams; she was already a dynamic woman with just the right stuff needed to turn her into a household name. She demanded to be chiseled into an everlasting monument that highlighted her dedication, intellect and hutzpah. Sorry it took so long for the world to honor her, but that’s the way it often is with women, especially black women. But some men, like Mr. Perry, are changing the status quo. I hope many more men follow his lead.
While we face uncertain times, especially with the current administration’s canceling of DEI initiatives, Major Adams had to deal with a world war, a nihilistic disaster, discrimination, racism, sexism, misogyny, and soldiers who didn’t want women in their “man’ s army” The majority of men during her tenure refused to accept a women as an authority figure, any woman, but a woman of color was the last straw for many of them. They stacked the deck against her by throwing up obstacles after obstacle; first be giving with an assignment that was doomed to fail from the start, one they themselves had yet to accomplish. So instead of giving her a hand, they amped up the stakes and gave her an impossible completion date- threw in bad working conditions and little supplies- and then waited for her to fail. But guess what? She succeeded. Of course she did; women get shit down.
Major Adams led the all-black battalion of the US Postal Service Women’s Army Corp (WAC) to victory. She was given the task of delivering piles of undelivered letters and packages to the frontlines. The army had declared “No mail. No moral.” Many of theses packages had the wrong name or address on it, were missing address information or were badly mangled. But the army was certain that if the men had “news from home” the tide would turn and the United States would be victorious. Well, this group of no-nonsense hard-working black women made it happen. They used ingenuity, team work, deductive and inductive reasoning, brute strength, gallons of sleepless nights and an extra dose of wherewithal and sorted it all out in 3 months. Miraculous. Where there’s a woman, there’s a way. But we all know that. About time the patriarchy knows it. It wasn’t until years later that they recognized the tenacity of the women’s battalion, but at least they finally got it right.
I’m honored to highlight Major Charity Adams Early on this blog. We need more and more women like her to dot the landscape with female power. The matriarchy is as strong as ever. Don’t let the patriarchy silence us into complacency. We all have a voice. Let’s use it to rally against the chains of male dominance.
Rock the boat. Rock the world. Rock on!