Racial Justice Themes Replace Confederate Stained-Glass Images At National Cathedral

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The Washington National Cathedral has chosen contemporary artist Kerry James Marshall, renowned for his wide-ranging works depicting African-American life, to design new stained-glass windows with themes of racial justice.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

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Carolyn Kaster/AP

The Two-Way
National Cathedral Is Removing Stained-Glass Windows Honoring Confederate Leaders

The project is expected to be completed by 2023.

The windows will replace a set that had honored two Confederate generals, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, with saint-like reverence and had included a Confederate flag. The cathedral removed them in 2017, prompted by a larger national reckoning over Confederate imagery and white supremacy in the wake of deadly right-wing attacks in Charlottesville, Virginia, that year and in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. The window openings have been covered with plywood since 2017.

The setting is particularly significant in the massive neo-Gothic cathedral, which is filled with iconography depicting the American story in glass, stone and other media, with images ranging from presidents to famous cultural figures and state symbols.

The cathedral, also the seat of the Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop and Diocese of Washington, often serves as the setting for major national events.

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Artist Kerry James Marshall has been selected to design a replacement of former Confederate-themed stained glass windows that were taken down in 2017 at the National Cathedral.

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Andrew Harnik/AP

Race
An Emancipation Statue Debuts In Virginia Two Weeks After Robert E. Lee Was Removed

Marshall said in a statement: «This project is not just a job — I don’t need the work — or only a piece of art. It’s kind of a calling.»

Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation, recited one of her poems at the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama and has published multiple books that include Pulitzer finalists. She said she was honored to be part of the cathedral’s «effort to ensure that those who worship within its sanctuary know that it is truly a space for all people, and that the stories relayed through its sacred walls, windows and other iconography represent the truth of our nation.»

The cathedral loaned the Robert E. Lee window to the National Museum of African American History and Culture to serve as part of its new exhibit, «Make Good the Promises: Reconstruction and Its Legacies.» The museum said the window represents the «myth-building and the nationwide intimidation of African Americans through the embrace of Confederate symbols.»

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