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BEFORE THE BREAK, WE WATCHED CORRESPONDENT ALEXIS CLARK’S PIECE ON THE 6888, A BLACK FEMALE ARMY BATTALION IN WORLD WAR TWO. ALEXIS, GREAT TO SEE YOU. NOW, WHEN YOU FIRST CAME ON OUR PROGRAM, YOU ACTUALLY CAME ON AS A GUEST, NOT AS A CORRESPONDENT. YOU HAD WRITTEN A BOOK CALLED ENEMIES IN LOVE, WHICH WAS ABOUT BLACK NURSES IN WORLD WAR TWO. AND THEN, OF COURSE, WE GOT YOU TO CONTRIBUTE AS A CORRESPONDENT. TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT HOW YOU FOUND THE STORY OF THE 6888. YES. I WAS RESEARCHING BLACK WOMEN WHO SERVED IN WORLD WAR TWO. AND SO WHEN I WAS READING ABOUT THE NURSES, I LEARNED ABOUT THIS BATTALION OF WOMEN, THE SIX EIGHT. I MEAN, IT WAS UNHEARD OF. FOR ONE, IT WAS A SEGREGATED UNIT OF BLACK WOMEN. AND THIS WAS A TIME WHERE PEOPLE WERE DISCRIMINATED AGAINST, BUT THEY DIDN’T LET THAT GET IN THE WAY. AND SO HERE THEY ARE SORTING THROUGH WHAT NO UNIT COULD DO BEFORE THEY CLEARED THAT BACKLOG IN THREE MONTHS. IN THE PIECE YOU MENTION A NEWSPAPER, THE AFRO, WHICH I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVEN’T HEARD OF. IT’S A BLACK NEWSPAPER FROM BALTIMORE BASED OUT OF BALTIMORE. IT HAS AN INCREDIBLE HISTORY AS WELL. IT CERTAINLY DOES. IT’S ONE OF THE OLDEST BLACK NEWSPAPERS IN THE UNITED STATES. AND IT WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN HELPING TO TELL THE STORY OF THE 6888. BASICALLY, THE AFRO STARTED AS A PUBLICATION THAT COVERED THE BLACK COMMUNITY WHEN MAINSTREAM NEWSPAPERS DIDN’T. AND SO THEY SENT THEIR OWN WAR CORRESPONDENTS TO EUROPE TO COVER BLACK SERVICE MEMBERS. THEY WROTE ABOUT THE WOMEN OF THE 6888 AND WHERE THEY WERE FROM. SO FAST FORWARD DECADES LATER. ADVOCATES WERE ABLE TO TRACK DOWN WHO THESE WOMEN WERE AND HELP TO TELL THEIR STORY BASED ON THOSE ARCHIVAL ARTICLES. A LOT OF THE WORK THAT YOU’VE DONE FOR US HAS REALLY BEEN CENTERED IN HISTORY, AND I THINK IT’S ADDED TREMENDOUS VALUE TO OUR PROGRAM OVER THE YEARS. TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR PROCESS AND HOW YOU THINK ABOUT FINDING STORIES. THE WAY I APPROACH IT IS THERE’S ALWAYS A BACK STORY WHEN YOU’RE LOOKING AT A COMMUNITY OR A NEIGHBORHOOD. YOU REALLY ASK WHY, WHAT HAPPENED? WHY IS IT LIKE THIS? AND SO I BELIEVE IN LOOKING AT THE HISTORICAL RECORD TO HELP EXPLAIN OUR CURRENT CIRCUMSTANCES. AND WHAT I LOVE SO MUCH ABOUT THE 6888 STORY IS THAT YOU REALLY DIDN’T HEAR ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF BLACK WOMEN IN WORLD WAR TWO. AND HERE WAS A BATTALION THAT PLAYED SUCH AN IMPORTANT ROLE BECAUSE MORALE WAS SO LOW, PARTICULARLY THAT LAST YEAR OF WORLD WAR TWO, AND YOU HAD SERVICE MEMBERS WHO HADN’T HEARD FROM THEIR FAMILY IN MONTHS, EVEN SOME YEARS. SO THE FACT THAT THESE WOMEN WERE ABLE TO RECONNECT THEM WITH THEIR FAMILIES WAS REALLY VITAL AND RAISED THE MORALE OF THE SOLDIERS ON THE FRONT LINES. AN EXCELLENT PIECE. ALEXIS CLARK, FANTASTIC. AS IS ALL YOUR REPORTING, WE APPRECIATE YOU VERY MUCH. THANK YOU SO MUCH. IT’S BE