By Brakkton Booker

With help from Rishika Dugyala, Charlie Mahtesian, Jesse Naranjo and JC Whittington

POLITICO illustration/Photo by Getty Images

What up, Recast family! Former President Donald Trump calls off a press conference where he teased releasing a report that would clear him of alleged wrongdoing by prosecutors in Georgia and Maui’s emergency management chief resigns. But first, a conversation with a living legend. 

Morgan Freeman is accustomed to being a part of blockbuster films and embodying iconic figures like South Africa’s first Black president Nelson Mandela in the film “Invictus,” or Joe Clark, the hard-knocks, no-nonsense principal of Eastside High School in the film “Lean On Me.”

Freeman is now lending his voice — yes, it is fair to say he is the voice of God — to uplifting the little-known history of the 761st Tank Battalion, the unit some affectionately refer to as “The Original Black Panthers.”

The 761st was the Army’s first Black Tank unit to serve in combat during World War II.

Like many Black soldiers, members of this battalion had to overcome the prejudices of American society in the 1940s, even among their white commanding officers, who initially subscribed to the racist notion that it was nothing more than a “bastard unit” incapable of fighting and operating cohesively on the battlefield.

As a result, for years, this battalion was passed over time and again to serve its country in battle. Its members were relegated to the Deep South on a pair of military bases where they were left to live and train in squalid conditions. Eventually, the 761st got its opportunity in November 1944, when it built a reputation as being an indispensable unit, amassing seven Silver Stars, 246 Purple Hearts and one Medal of Honor, according to the National Park Service.

Freeman, long before he became a household name and an Academy Award-winning actor, joined the Air Force in 1955 with aspirations of becoming a fighter pilot. He said he was drawn to the story of the 761st after learning of its members’ heroism. He had long wondered why the story of African American fighters rarely gets depicted in Hollywood films like “Saving Private Ryan.”

“There was no sign of me — no Black soldiers anywhere,” Freeman says.

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He is doing his part to change that with a documentary he co-produced called “761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers,” which debuts on The History Channel Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central.

The film chronicles his pursuit of learning about the major offensives the unit took part in and the hardships they endured when they returned home.

And the timing of it comes just weeks after the military marked the 75th anniversary of President Harry Truman’s executive order that officially ended segregation in the U.S. military. The airing also comes as President Joe Biden’s pick to become the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown, is being held up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.). The reason: the senator’s objection to a Pentagon policy that pays travel costs for service members seeking abortion.

Brown would be just the second Black man to serve in that role after the late Colin Powell did it during the George W. Bush administration.

I chop it up with Freeman and director Phil Bertelsen about how this story was originally supposed to be a feature film, Eleanor Roosevelt’s role in destigmatizing Black servicemen and if Freeman has plans to lend his voice to Democrats in the upcoming 2024 campaign.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

THE RECAST: Morgan, the “Original Black Panthers,” the men of the 761 Tank Battalion — much of their heroism and accomplishments has been suppressed since their fighting days of World War II. How did you come to learn about what they did on the battlefield?

FREEMAN: There was a guy, years ago, who came to us with revelations about this story of the 761st — which I had no idea about — and [then] we started writing.

The script first went to Steven Spielberg with the idea and sort of leaned on him by [pointing out that] “Saving Private Ryan” was a “really, really, really good movie” — as I say in the documentary, but there was no sign of me — no Black soldiers anywhere.

And he said, “OK, OK” — he was at Universal at the time — and we started working on it. I don’t know what happened, something changed there and it fell through. So we had to sit on it. And then along came Phil and co-executive producer James Younger and we sort of revived it, not as a film, but as a documentary.

African American tank crewman from the 761st Tank Battalion operate an M4A3(76)W Sherman tank, North Rhine-Westphalia region of Germany, circa March 1945. | William Vandivert/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

THE RECAST: So this was originally going to be on the same scale of a “Saving Private Ryan” or like other war movies, like the one you were in with “Glory” where you played a soldier in one of the Union Army’s first African American regiments, or “Red Tails” about the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of all-Black fighter pilots? But there was a pivot away from that idea?

FREEMAN: I didn't want to do a film — you can't cover as much as that needs to be covered on these guys. What I wanted to do was something akin to “Band of Brothers,” the World War II miniseries. I thought, I’m going to do a 10-part series on this story. That way we can cover much more of them and what they did.

THE RECAST: Talk to me about how the 761st Tank Battalion came together. They were sent to two separate military bases in the south — first to Camp Claiborne in Louisiana and later to Fort Hood in Texas. Talk about what they experienced there before they were cleared to fight in the battlefield.

FREEMAN: Well, obviously in the Deep South in the 1940s, segregation had a firm grip, particularly on the military. So second-class everything was what they had to deal with.

Second-class equipment. Second-class food. Second-class living conditions – all of that. I think the worst part of Camp Claiborne was it was swampy. I think the best thing that they had going for them was training — that’s where they knew they could excel. They were excelling.

And I think that's why they came to the fore when Gen. George Patton was running out of men and materials. So by 1944 he sent scouts to go find him some tanks and tank men. And what they came back with was the 761st.

THE RECAST: It wasn't just that the 761st was training — they were training the better part of two years straight because of this idea that these Black soldiers, these Black men, were inferior.

It was a common belief in the armed services that this Black unit could not be cohesive. They were thought of as just this “bastard unit.” How were they able to overcome that prejudice and eventually win over their white counterparts on the battlefield?

FREEMAN: How do we overcome anything? You say: “Give me a shot. Just give me a shot. Just get out of the way and I'll do it.”

The fact that they were so proficient in training was part of what came to the attention of the scouts who work in the States looking for some unit that Patton could use. And when they got to France, Patton gave them this famous talk about who was watching them and “don't disappoint us.”

They didn't really need that. They were there to do the job.

Crews of U.S. M5 Stuart light tanks from Company D, 761st Tank Battalion, stand by awaiting call to clean out scattered Nazi machine gun nests April 25, 1945, in Coburg, Germany | U.S. Army

THE RECAST: Once they were on the battlefield, they essentially never left — 183 straight days of combat.

What the documentary doesn't quite talk about, because this is virtually unknown, because these men came home and did not really talk or share their experiences. But we really don't know the kind of toll those experiences had on all the soldiers — fighting that many days consecutively and the horrors they saw.

FREEMAN: Well, I think they knew they were fighting two battles at the same time.

What they were doing in Europe had to reflect what was happening here in America. That was their thinking: “Well, we must be famous, we're kicking some butt here here and we're being written about by Black reporters from the Chicago Tribune and the Pittsburgh Courier.” Those were the two papers that were carrying and detailing their exploits. And transmitters were sending this back to them. So they were thinking, “OK what we're doing is well known. And if it's well known, then we have to assume that it is well received.”

That was the bad part about it. It was not well received.

One of the problems with them, as well as the Red Tails of the Tuskegee Airmen, was it was thought that the only reason they were there was because of first lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

Did you know that?

THE RECAST: I didn’t know that. No.

FREEMAN: [She’s saying] you know, these Black soldiers – they want to fight, but I can’t understand why they want to all that bad. What are they going to be fighting for? I’m paraphrasing. But these people were called “Eleanor’s N----rs.”

BERTELSEN: There's a book by that name, in fact.  

Yeah, she was a big advocate, and she even got in a plane with a Black man — at that time it was startling. And she made her point.

But there was also a tremendous pressure campaign coming from the NAACP and the Black press. It was just the confluence of all those forces that ultimately caused FDR and his generals to form this unit.

THE RECAST: So after that pressure campaign, the powers in charge relent and these soldiers go on to fight valiantly on the battlefield.

C. Alfred "Chief" Anderson, chief civilian flying instructor at the Tuskegee Institute, gives a ride to first lady Eleanor Roosevelt on April 11, 1941. | Courtesy of U.S. Air Force

You know, I want to connect this story to modern day and where we find ourselves in our politics. This film is being released a couple of weeks beyond the 75th anniversary of President Harry Truman signing the executive order that ended segregation in the military. But it also comes at a time when a Republican senator named Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is blocking a number of advancements of military personnel including Air Force Gen. C.Q. Brown to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

On top of that, there is debate brewing about us needing to rethink how history is taught in classrooms. Can you bring this all together as someone who has both studied politics and studied history about what this moment means to elevate stories like these?

FREEMAN: I think some things in American politics are not explainable. You cannot explain to me how one single senator can have this kind of power. [Defense Secretary] Lloyd Austin has said the same thing.

I’m going to leave it right there, for whatever I think about it.

Freeman interviews Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for the new documentary "761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers" from The HISTORY Channel. | André Chung/The HISTORY Channel

BERTELSEN: I’ll just add, Brakkton, I think he hit the nail on the head that at a time when there’s an effort being made not to just erase our history, but to revise it in such a way to… I don't know…

FREEMAN: Whitewash it.

BERTELSEN: Exactly. So a film like this goes a long way [toward] setting the historical record right. And Morgan even says in the film, if you want your story told, you have to tell it yourself.

And here we are going about telling our history in such a way that it can't be denied — so that the history is not just written by the so-called victors. But you know, the story and the saga continues.

THE RECAST: I know, Morgan, in 2016 you cut an ad for Hillary Clinton. Are there any plans to get involved in the upcoming 2024 campaign?

FREEMAN: I don't have plans. It depends on if I am asked — and by whom — to do something. So I'm in abeyance here.

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Before your weekend officially begins, get caught up with some quick news and hot pop culture odds and ends. 

Long Prison Sentence for Proud Boys Leader? — The former Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio and an ally named Joe Biggs will serve 33-year prison sentences if prosecutors get their wish. As POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney notes, those would be nearly double the lengthiest sentence handed down for anyone connected to the Jan. 6 attack.

Trump’s Pardon Conundrum — Federal prosecutors know that if Trump wins back the White House in 2024 he will possess the power to make their criminal cases against him go away. But things are very different in Georgia. As POLITICO’s Erica Orden and Kyle Cheney report, not even Georgia’s GOP governor can help Trump if he’s convicted there, “because in Georgia, unlike many other states, the governor cannot issue pardons.”

Nikki Haley Struggles — Haley, the former South Carolina governor, was the first prominent GOP candidate not named Trump to launch her White House bid. But as POLITICO’s Rachael Bade reports: “Six months later, the prospect of electing a conservative Republican as the nation’s first woman president has not proven to be especially tantalizing to GOP voters.” 

Little progress from the Hollywood writers and actors strike — the L.A. Times reports that as talks between writers and the studios and streamers ramp up, “it’s still uncertain how much the Writers Guild of America and the studios are willing to bend to reach a compromise.”

Sticking with Hollywood for a moment, check out this profile in Variety of budding heartthrob Xolo Maridueña, star of “Blue Beetle,” which is out today. Check out the trailer here.

Hall of Fame football player-turned-sports opinion talking head Shannon Sharpe has landed at ESPN, opposite Steven A. Smith. More on what the move means from Yahoo Sports.

Plus check out this touching interview with rapper Quavo on his latest project, “Rocket Power” — his first studio album since the untimely death of his Migos bandmate Takeoff.

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