Charity Adams Earley

The 6888th Battalion.

In 2022, Dayton was designated as the state of Ohio’s only World War II Heritage City by the National Park Service. This recognition highlights the city’s substantial contributions to the war effort, driven by the bravery and resilience of its residents both on the battlefield and the home front. Among these notable individuals was Charity Adams Earley, a leader whose service and accomplishments during World War II tell an inspiring story of courage, strength, and determination. Earley’s legacy continues to inspire people today and her impact is still felt around the Dayton community in many ways.

Earley in her official U.S. Army Portrait.

Earley’s entrance into the United States Army came in 1942. At this time, Earley was working as a public schoolteacher—one of the only jobs available to her as a Black woman living in a heavily segregated South Carolina. Encouraged by a dean from her alma mater, Wilberforce University, Earley decided to change career paths and apply for service in the newly established Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). She was accepted and became the first Black woman to be commissioned as an officer in the United States Army. Shortly after her acceptance, she traveled with a group of other women to Fort Des Moines to complete her basic training as part of the First Officer Candidate Class.

Unfortunately, Earley and other Black women recruits were not always treated fairly by those facilitating their basic training. They faced segregation from non-Black WAAC recruits, racist comments, and other prejudices and insults. In an oral history recorded in 1990, Earley recalls being shocked that she and others were dismissively referred to as a “colored girls” and relegated to a back corner of reception when they first arrived at Fort Des Moines. Despite these challenges, Earley climbed the ranks in the WAACs (which became the Women’s Army Corps, or WACs during her tenure) at a remarkable pace, being promoted to major only two years after enlisting. In 1944, Earley was promoted yet again, this time to command the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion. As part of this promotion, she was given orders to lead a company of WACs to Birmingham, England. This was another “first” achieved by Earley—­she was the first woman commanding officer of a predominantly Black female battalion to serve overseas.

When Earley and her battalion of 800 enlisted women and 31 officers arrived at their post, they discovered a disaster: several aircraft hangars full of a backlog of several years’ worth of undelivered mail addressed to U.S. servicemen. It was Earley and her battalion’s job to ensure the mail made it to the correct servicemen. This was a monumental task given that many of the letters were incorrectly addressed or damaged, the servicemen’s locations were constantly changing, and the battalion only had six months to work through the backlog. To further complicate the 6888th’s work, the women were forced to work in extremely poor conditions. The aircraft hangars that held the backlogged mail were frigid due to broken windows from the Blitz bombings, so filthy that they were infested with rats, and very dark.

In addition to these massive challenges, the women of the 6888th faced racism and prejudice in Birmingham, which Earley fiercely combatted. In her oral history, Earley states: “White GIs told tales about us; the Red Cross wanted to segregate us…I refused to accept any segregated facilities and after that, they didn’t try.” Earley even held off a general who attempted to send a white first lieutenant to instruct her on how to run the unit by responding “over my dead body, sir.” When the general attempted to court-martial Earley for disobeying orders, she responded by filing charges against him for using inappropriate racial language, which led him to drop the issue.

Earley (Center) and Captain Abbie N. Campbell (Left) inspecting the 6888th Battalion in England.

Regardless of these obstacles, Earley’s battalion immediately got to work deciphering, sorting, and redirecting 17 million pieces of backlogged mail. The battalion worked tirelessly for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week in one of three eight-hour shifts, under the succinct mantra of “No Mail, No Morale.” While her battalion attempted to raise the morale of the U.S. servicemember through delivering letters from home, Earley raised her battalion’s morale by creating spaces on the unit for the 6888th women to relax and socialize in, such as a beauty parlor and a refreshment bar. She also encouraged her battalion to socialize with servicemen and residents of Birmingham, no matter their race, to encourage camaraderie and attempt to challenge racist and prejudice ideals.

With this hard work and focus on morale, Earley and the 6888th finished working through the backlog in only ninety days—an astonishing half of the time they were given to complete the task. After proving their effectiveness at solving seemingly insurmountable challenges, Earley and the 6888th were then sent to Rouen, France, to work on another backlog of undelivered mail. As a result of her incredible leadership, Earley was promoted yet again to lieutenant colonel at the end of 1945. This was the highest possible rank for those serving in the WAC and Earley had earned it after only around three years of service.

At the end of the war, Earley returned home to the United States and earned a master’s degree in psychology from Ohio State University. In 1952, Earley and her husband settled permanently in Dayton. Here, Earley dedicated her life to caring for both her family and the greater community. She was involved in numerous organizations, including serving on the board of Dayton Power and Light, The Dayton Opera Company, the American Red Cross, and Sinclair Community College. In 1982, Earley founded the Black Leadership Development Program which helps emerging African American leaders develop skills to address community issues and is still ongoing today, over 42 years later. Earley passed away in 2002 and was laid to rest alongside countless other notable Daytonians at Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum.

Earley’s contributions to Dayton and to the legacy of Black women in military service continue to be celebrated and honored across the city of Dayton and the United States. One of the most significant tributes to Earley’s memory is the Charity Adams Earley Academy for Girls, a school in Dayton dedicated to inspiring young women through education and leadership skills. On December 20th, 2024, a film by Tyler Perry exploring the heroic work of Earley and the 6888th Battalion, will premiere on Netflix, which will bring this inspiring story and knowledge of Earley’s accomplishments to a massive audience. Despite receiving national attention and praise, Earley summed up her achievements in the 6888th humbly: “you don’t really think of it as history when you’re doing something. It’s not history until after you do it… all I thought of it was doing a job well.”

You can learn more about Tyler Perry’s movie, The Six Triple Eight, here. Additionally, more information on Dayton’s American World War II Heritage City designation can be found here. Finally, if you would like to learn more about Charity Adams Earley, you can watch her 1990 oral history conducted by the U.S. Army Women’s Museum or read her memoir: One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC.