Windows that memorialize Confederate leaders are gone.
The National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. announced it has commissioned renowned black artist Kerry James Marshall to create “racial-justice themed windows” that will replace two stained glass windows the church removed in 2017 that honored Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. It will be the first time the painter has worked with stained glass.
The church also tapped poet Elizabeth Alexander, who was the inaugural poet for President Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2019, to write a poem that will be inscribed on stone tablets alongside Marshall’s new windows. The new tablets will overlay the previous ones that revered the lives of the two Confederate generals.
Both projects are expected to be completed by 2023 and permanently installed in the cathedral that year.
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For government officials as they implement the replacement of Confederate monuments and memorials.
- For the artist and poet as they work to project the concept of racial unity across America.
- For visitors to the National Cathedral to be drawn away from political and social issues toward a relationship with God.
Sources: CNN, NPR
