See Kerry Washington in First Look at Tyler Perry’s Six Triple Eight (Exclusive)

Tyler Perry’s latest movie gives an inspiring, lesser-known piece of American history the spotlight. 

Kerry Washington and Ebony Obsidian star in The Six Triple Eight as real-life members of the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, the only predominantly Black U.S. Women’s Army Corps unit sent overseas during WWII.

PEOPLE is exclusively revealing the first look at the Netflix historical drama and its Dec. 20 release date.

Washington, 47, can be seen as Major Charity Adams, the battalion’s commanding officer. Obsidian, 30, plays officer Lena King. Perry, 54, tells PEOPLE it was meeting King that inspired his approach to crafting The Six Triple Eight. “After one few-hour session with her I had a whole script in my head,” says the writer and director. 

King was 99 at the time, and passed away earlier this year, adds Perry. “She remembered everything” about joining the 6888th battalion and delivering mail overseas alongside her fellow Black female officers.

The officers’ motto — “No mail, low morale” — reflected their mission late in WWII, to bring “communications to exhausted soldiers of every race of our country who were fighting,” as Perry says. 

Each of the battalion’s 855 women, including King, “wanted to fight for her country and wanted to be of service,” he says.

“These women were incredibly important to the war efforts toward the winding down of the war. … It’s important that these types of stories have their voice and their place, because so many of us are trying to erase and write out the history of the contributions of certain people.”

Washington says she is “really so proud” to be a part of the film: “I think Tyler has done an extraordinary job taking this largely untold story and adapting it into a moving narrative work of art that allows you into the hearts and minds of these brave American heroes.”

And, she says, the movie “resonates with audiences so strongly because although it is a historical drama, the themes in the film are still very relevant today.”

“So many of us know what it feels like to be marginalized, underestimated and tested,” says Washington. “This movie is about the magic of what’s possible when we join forces to meet life’s challenges head on. And it’s about fighting for the American dream even when there are others who believe that the pursuit of that dream does not belong to you.”

The Six Triple Eight producer Nicole Avant says, “America has a rich, heavy, complicated and beautiful history, and I think it’s critical to tell stories that focus on our American heroes, known and unknown. The 6888 Battalion were true patriots. I’m so thrilled that they are being honored in this moment and through this film.”

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Avant, 56, adds, “Producing this film allowed me to dig deeper and get to know the personal stories behind their courage, perseverance and tenacity, which we all now benefit from.”

Perry calls Obsidian, who starred on his BET drama Sistas, “one of the most phenomenal actors that I’ve ever worked with.” And Washington, also a producer, is unrecognizable as the tough Adams, he says: “You don’t see any Kerry Washington in this character. It is phenomenal to see how she fell so deeply into it.”

The Six Triple Eight also stars Milauna Jackson, Kylie Jefferson, Shanice Shantay, Sarah Jeffery, Pepi Sonuga, Moriah Brown, Jeanté Godlock, Jay Reeves, Jeffery Johnson, Baadja-Lyne Odums, Donna Biscoe, Gregg Sulkin, Scott Daniel Johnson, Susan Sarandon, with Dean Norris, Sam Waterston and Oprah Winfrey.

Winfrey only worked on Perry’s set for a day, he reveals, but was “really, really great” as civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune.

“Listen, Oprah’s a friend of mine, and we keep it very, very real with each other, and I would never bring her anything that I didn’t think was worthy.”

Perry worked hard to make his telling of this story worthy too. “To have, for 60 to 70 years, these women be completely ignored and pushed aside and not shown proper respect for their contributions, I felt this tremendous burden to get it right,” he says. 

Before she passed, King saw a rough cut of Perry’s film, he adds — and gave it her approval. Watching the actresses on screen salute, she saluted with them, recalls the filmmaker. “It was a beautiful moment.”

The Six Triple Eight is on Netflix Dec. 20.