Honoring our Black fighting women
Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams was a member of the Women’s Army Corps and headed the 688th Central Postal Directory Battalion.
These women delivered mail from the home front to troops in the European theater, processing an average of 65,000 pieces of mail per shift. By ensuring that all the mail was delivered, she helped maintain the morale of the troops in the European Theater.
The 6888th was also the largest unit of Black women to serve overseas during the war. And Adams saw her duties as a way to show White Americans what Black women could do, according to the Smithsonian Institution.
“What we had was a large group of adult Negro women who had been victimized, in one way or another, by racial bias,” Adams later said. “This was one opportunity for us to stand together for a common cause.”
On March 22, 2022, President Joe Biden signed legislation awarding Charity Adams and the 688th Central Postal Directory Battalion the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor.