Morgan Freeman on Importance of Highlighting Untold History in ‘761st Tank Battalion’ Doc

“Here we are with another opportunity to add another patch to the quilt of American life,” the actor tells PEOPLE

Morgan Freeman in 761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers (2023)

Morgan Freeman is leveraging his talents in honor of important history.

The Oscar-winning actor’s production company Revelations Entertainment, which he owns with Lori McCreary, executive produced 761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers, a documentary premiereing this Sunday on the History channel.

According to a release from A+E Networks, the two-hour film covers the true story of the 761st Tank Battalion, the first Black tank unit to serve in combat during WWII. It explores “the major battles they faced both overseas while in combat and back home in the United States.”

Freeman, 86, tells PEOPLE he felt it was his “obligation” to be part of the project “because it’s my story that needs telling.”

“I’ve been here a while. I’ve been here pretty much as long as anybody else has been here. So my history is all intertwined in ‘American’ history,” he says.

Morgan Freeman in 761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers

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The actor goes on to cite his 1989 film Glory as an example of a similar project, calling it “a wonderful experience” that was “well done” and reflected “true, true life.”

“So here we are with another opportunity to add another patch to the quilt of American life,” he says.

761st Tank Battalion director Phil Bertelsen agrees that the documentary is “a missing patch” that is part of “an ever-growing quilt.”

“I use the metaphor of a blanket, but it’s all stitching us together into this,” Freeman says. “One thing here is what has happened and who we are. And this, believe it or not, is America. This is all of who we are.”

According to the release, 761st Tank Battalion features “new and archival interviews, period footage, still photographs and new commentary and stories from family and relatives of the Black Panther soldiers,” as well as “insights and opinions of prominent historians on WWII and experts on race and inequality in America.”

Bertelsen tells PEOPLE it’s “always nice to have the opportunity to tell untold stories and to broaden the fabric of what is understood to be America and American history, and Morgan’s passion to do that was all the inspiration I needed.”

“Journalists, documentarians, storytellers — we’re all here to keep the holy grail right so that it doesn’t get lost to history, but helps propel us into the future,” he adds. “It was with deep gratitude that we got the opportunity to look for these answers.”

761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers, produced in association with GroupM Motion Entertainment, airs Sunday at 8 p.m. ET on the HISTORY Channel.