Tyler Perry’s new movie -“Six Triple Eight”- opening in December inspires waves of thanks to Black veterans

by Janine Fondon
and Bernice Elizabeth Green
As we celebrate Thanksgiving and all the upcoming holidays, let us recognize and thank our veterans near and far for their courageous service. Tyler Perry features the story of  Lt. Col. Charity E. Adams-Earley in the upcoming movie “The Six Triple Eight.” We can also thank other veterans who have served with distinction—Brigadier General Charles Young and those laid to rest in Brooklyn, John Munroe, Samuel Mann, and Andrew Schofield.

 Lt. Col. Charity E. Adams-Earley (1918 –2002) and Brigadier General Charles Young (1864 – 1922) were groundbreaking African American military leaders. Col. Adams-Earley served as the highest-ranking Black woman officer during World War II. Young served in several wars, including the Spanish-American War, the Philippine-American War, and World War I. John Munroe, Samuel Mann, and Andrew Schofield also rest in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery after their service during the Civil War.

National Coalition of Black Veteran Organizations Chairman Charles Blatcher III said, “The recognition of the historical contributions of the 6888th Postal Battalion is long overdue. We salute Tyler Perry for recognizing the significance of this history. We encourage everyone to say special thanks to those past and present who have made and continue to make the sacrifice of service on our behalf. A special thanks to Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and President Joseph Biden for their contribution in the recognition of Brigadier General Charles Young.”

Thank you to
 Lt. Col. Charity E. Adams-Earley
 Lt. Col. Charity E. Adams-Earley fought against segregation in the military and helped open opportunities for African American women. She was the first African-American woman to be an officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (later WACs) and was the commanding officer of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, which was made up of African-American women serving overseas during World War II. After the war, she served on boards for the Dayton Power and Light, the Dayton Metro Housing Authority, and the Dayton Opera Company. She also became a dean at Tennessee A&I College and Georgia State College.

Her remarkable life story in the film tells the true story of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion: the only predominantly Black, all-female battalion during World War II. The service of Charity Adam Early and the battalion paved the way for Hazel Winfred Johnson to become the first Black woman general in the United States Armed Forces in 1979. The film stars Kerry Washington as Major Charity Adams, the battalion’s commanding officer, and Ebony Obsidian as Officer Lena King. Perry also produced the project alongside Nicole Avant, Angi Bones, Tony L. Strickland, Keri Selig, and Carlota Espinosa.

Thank you to Brigadier General
Charles Young
Colonel Charles Young died in Lagos, Nigeria, on January 8, 1922, where he was buried with full military honors rendered by the British Army. However, Young’s family sought to bring him home with support from the newly established Harlem American Legion. The Legion members paid to bring Young’s body from Nigeria to Liberia, then back to the United States for reburial.

Returning to New York, he received a hero’s welcome from thousands of people. He was reburied at Arlington National Cemetery on June 1, 1923. In recognition of the man and his service, the American Legion Post #398 in Harlem is named in his honor. There is also a Colonel Charles Young Playground at 143rd Street & Harlem River Drive in New York City.
Born enslaved on March 12, 1864, Young served in the United States Army for over three decades. He became the highest-ranking African American Army officer in a military career that spanned three decades. In 1889, he was the third African American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Thanks to the advocacy of the National Coalition of Black Veteran Organizations and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Charles Young was posthumously promoted to brigadier general in 2022 by President Joseph Biden. In March of 2023, Governor Beshear signed legislation establishing the Brigadier General Charles Young Memorial Historical Corridor through Kentucky in recognition of his service. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed legislation in 2024 extending the corridor from the Kentucky border to Wilberforce.  The Ohio extension makes the 170-mile corridor the longest route in the nation, named in honor of an African American soldier. The National Coalition of Black Veterans is calling for a statue of Brigadier General Young to be located on the grounds of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.

From 1894 to 1898, Lieutenant Charles Young served as a professor at Wilberforce University. Among his associates were W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, and Booker T. Washington. Charles Young was the first African American to become a National Park superintendent in 1903, serving at Sequoia and General Grant National Parks. He served as a military attaché in Haiti in 1904 and Liberia in 1912 and 1919. Young became the first African American promoted to colonel in the United States Army in 1917. The promotion was bittersweet because, on the very same day, he was medically retired from active duty. Following a year-long protest that included a 497-mile walk and horseback ride from his home in Wilberforce, Ohio, to Washington, DC, he was returned to active duty on November 6, 1918.

Thanks to the advocacy of the National Coalition of Black Veteran Organizations and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Charles Young was posthumously promoted to brigadier general in 2022 by President Joseph Biden. In March of 2023, Governor Beshear signed legislation establishing the Brigadier General Charles Young Memorial Historical Corridor in recognition of his service. The corridor, which transverses 170 miles through Kentucky and Ohio, is the longest route in the nation, named in honor of an African American soldier. The National Coalition of Black Veterans is calling for a statue of Brigadier General Young to be located on the grounds of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC.

Thank you to John Munroe, Samuel Mann, and Andrew Schofield, interred in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery
Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery has seven burial lots that hold the remains of more than 1,300 African Americans. Established in 1840, the lots were first called the “Colored Lots,” and now they are referred to as the “Freedom Lots.” Green-Wood Cemetery notes that of the interred, several African Americans include John Munroe, a Quartermaster Sergeant who served in the Union Army’s 35th Regiment, and two men (Samuel Mann and Andrew Schofield) who are believed to have served in white regiments during the Civil War are interned at Green-Wood.

Also, In Brooklyn, New York, a significant part of the African American history of veterans is tied to the “Brooklyn Battalion” of the 369th Infantry Regiment (also known as Harlem Hellfighters), an infantry regiment of the New York Army National Guard during World War I and World War II. The regiment mainly consisted of African Americans, but it also included men from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Guyana, Liberia, Portugal, Canada, the West Indies, as well as white American officers Sergeant Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, both members of the 369 Infantry, were the first two American soldiers awarded the French Croix de Guerre medal for gallantry in World War I. They were the two highest decorated Black soldiers from World War I until 1991 when Corporal Freddie Stower was awarded the Medal of Honor by then-President George H.W. Bush 1991. The contributions of the Brooklyn Battalion and the 369th Infantry Regiment are recognized as a significant part of African American military history and the fight against racial inequality.
Continued next Week