One of the top trending films on Netflix this holiday season is The Six Triple Eight, which chronicles the true story of a remarkable woman from Ohio who made history during World War II.
In the film, Kerry Washington portrays U.S. Army Maj. Charity Adams Earley, a pioneering officer in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).
The 6888th Central Postal Battalion, which Adams Earley led, was tasked with sorting through a three-year backlog of undelivered mail—17 million pieces exchanged between soldiers and their families.
Born in 1918 and raised in South Carolina, Adams Earley moved to Ohio to attend Wilberforce College, where she studied math, Latin, and physics. Afterward, she returned to South Carolina to work as a schoolteacher.
During the summers, she attended graduate classes at Ohio State University, according to her biography published by the National Women’s History Museum.
In 1942, she joined the Women’s Army Corps and became part of the first officer candidate school.
Two years later, in 1944, Adams Earley was selected to lead the first Black WAC unit sent overseas.
Directed by Tyler Perry, the Netflix movie highlights Adams Earley and her battalion’s resilience and determination while handling the monumental mail sorting task.
Adams Earley left the military in 1948, having achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. She returned to Ohio State University to complete her graduate degree and later worked for the Veterans Administration in Cleveland.
She eventually moved to Switzerland, where her husband, Stanley Earley II, was studying medicine. The couple returned to the United States in 1952, settled in Dayton, and had two children.
Adams Earley became deeply involved in the civic life of Dayton, serving on the boards of Sinclair Community College, the American Red Cross Dayton chapter, the Dayton Metro Housing Authority, the Dayton Opera Company, and Dayton Power & Light Co.
In honor of her legacy, the Charity Adams Earley Girls Academy in Dayton is named after her. Adams Earley passed away in 2002 at the age of 83 in Dayton.
