Since 1953, two stained glass windows on Washington National Cathedral have paid tribute to a dark period in American history. But 60 years later, a new symbol of hope will take their place. On Saturday, Washington National Cathedral revealed two new racial justice-themed windows created by Black artist Kerry James Marshall.
The original windows, sponsored by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, depict Confederate General Robert E. Lee on horseback and General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson reading the Bible. But after the 2015 mass shooting of worshippers at a Bible study at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, the cathedral’s leadership decided that the not-so-subtle symbol of racism in America was not the best look for “a spiritual home for the nation.”
In June 2016, images of the Confederate flag were removed from the windows. And in 2017, the windows, which they called “a barrier to our important work on racial justice and racial reconciliation,” were taken down. While the racist windows have been stored until cathedral leadership finds a permanent home for them, they commissioned artist Kerry James Marshall, whose work has been featured at the Met, the National Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, to design a more appropriate replacement.
Marshall’s work, “Now and Forever,” features a group of protesters holding up signs which read “Fairness” and “No Foul Play.” On Saturday, at the windows’ unveiling, the cathedral’s dean, the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, said the new windows “lift up the values of justice and fairness and the ongoing struggle for equality among all God’s great children.”
“American Song,” a poem, written for the occasion by Elizabeth Alexander, is inscribed in stone next to the new windows. It reads:
A single voice raised, then another.
We must tell the truth about our history.
How did we get here and where do we go?
Walk toward freedom. Work toward freedom. Believe in beloved community.