Dayton trailblazer Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley inspiration for acclaimed movie

Charity Adams Earley laid the groundwork for today’s integrated military as the top-ranking Black woman officer and paved the way for Black women in service.

She is featured in the movie “The Six Triple Eight,” so we wanted to share more of the story of this Dayton legend.

Early Life

Charity Edna Adams was born in Kitrell, North Carolina in 1918.

She was the oldest of four children. Her father was a minister and her mother was a former teacher. Adams moved to South Carolina as a young girl and she considered that her home state.

Adams attended the historically Black Wilberforce College (later Wilberforce University), majoring in math, Latin, and physics.

After she graduated in 1938, she returned to South Carolina to teach. Over the next four years, she also took summer classes at Ohio State University to get her master’s degree.

Military career

At the start of World War II, the United States quickly expanded its military forces. The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was formed in 1942, establishing a separate department which allowed women to serve in the Army. Later it became Women’s Army Corps (WAC).

The Army recruited women capable of performing non-combat roles. Adams applied and was accepted for entry into the WAAC. She graduated in August 1942, becoming the first Black officer of the WAAC. She led the 3rd Company, 3rd Training Regiment, made up of two white and one Black platoons.

In December 1944, Adams deployed to Europe leading the first Black WAC unit to serve overseas. The Army gave Adams command of the 6888th Central Postal Battalion.

At peak the Battalion had 824 enlisted women and 31 officers.

During an interview with a military newspaper, Adams was asked about being overseas and the work needing to be done.

“My first idea is to get the girls on the job as quickly as possible. Then they can look around to see what England is like,” she said.

They were responsible for re-routing to their proper destinations letters and packages which had not been delivered because of troop movements. During the course of the war, the battalion sorted seven million cards.

WAC changed an average of 30,000 addresses daily of soldiers who were battle casualties, reinforcements or transfers. The battalion was self-sustaining with its own mess, supply, transport and Special Service personnel.

Adams served in Europe until late 1945. For her work in Europe Adams received a promotion to lieutenant colonel.

Credit: HANDOUT

After the war, she worked at the Pentagon for a short time before requesting a discharge in 1946.

Moving back to Dayton

After her service, Adams returned to Ohio State and completed her master’s degree in vocational psychology. She married Stanley A. Earley, Jr. in 1949, and the couple lived in Switzerland for a few years.

In 1952 they returned to the United States and settled down in Dayton, where they raised two children.

Adams served on the board of directors of Dayton Power and Light, Dayton Metro Housing Authority and the Dayton Opera Company, among other local roles.

Credit: ddn archive

She became an important voice in the region, creating the Black Leadership Development Program in 1982, which sought to educate and train African-Americans to be community leaders.

Recognitions grow

In 2024, Reps. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, and Joyce Beatty, D-Columbus, introduced a symbolic resolution to honor Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley.

This resolution directs the U.S. Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp in honor of Adams Earley.

Beatty and Turner also sent a letter to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) requesting that USPS issue a commemorative stamp honoring Adams Earley. The committee has the authority to recommend specific commemorative stamps.

Recognition of Adams Earley has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years. She has been recognized by the National Postal Museum, the National Women’s History Museum, the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, the Smithsonian Institute, the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame and other organizations.

The Charity Adams Earley Girls Academy was founded in 2005 as a Dayton public all-girls school that serves grades Pre-K through 8.

During the 117th Congress, in 2021, the Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, including posthumously to that unit’s commander, Adams Earley.

In April, 2024 U.S. Army Fort Lee, in Virginia was officially renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of Adams Earley and another officer, Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg.

In June, 2024 the Dayton VA Medical Center renamed its women’s clinic the “Lt. Col. Charity Adams Earley Women’s Clinic.”

Her book “One Woman’s Army: A Black Officer Remembers the WAC” was published in 1989.

Adams Earley died in 2002 at 83.

‘The Six Triple Eight’

Directed by Tyler Perry, “The Six Triple Eight” is a movie about the WAC. Based on Kevin M. Hymel’s article “Fighting a Two-Front War” featured in World War II History Magazine, the film stars Kerry Washington as Adams.