The Six Triple Eight (2024)

There is a lot to like about this movie, especially if you are a bit of a Tyler Perry fan--I admit that there is a lot of melodrama in his writing and directing, but he is a star when it comes to telling stories about African-Americans and his actors are largely black, which I appreciate. This is based on a true story of the women of the all-Black 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion who faced ruthless racism while serving during World War II. It is told through the eyes of Lena Derriecott King, a woman who joins up after her true love is killed in action, and Major Charity Adams, her commanding officer. The situation is this--the black regiment is marginalized in blatantly racist ways--but then Mary McLeod Bethune, a close personal friend of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, took up their cause and volunteers them for a Herculean task. Mail was not leaving the front and it wasn't being delivered there either and it was easy to relate to the idea that it was causing morale problems for the troops and a lot of anxiety for loved ones at home. Ms. Bethune, who was able to advance the stature of African American women through her friendship with Roosevelt, put forth that the 6888 could do the task of sorting the mail--which they did, despite enormous obstacles, both real and manufactured. They were the only black women to serve in Europe during the war, and the end of the movie shows a number of them who are still alive today--at 100 years old, more or less. This is nominated for an Academy Award in the Original Song category, and you have to watch to the end to listen to it.