The Washington National Cathedral has unveiled new stained glass windows with a theme of racial justice — replacing images that were a stain on our national history.
The old artwork included tributes to Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Those panes have now been replaced with protesters marching for equality.
Artist Kerry James Marshall’s work can go for millions of dollars. For the cathedral’s new stained glass, he charged $18.65 — a nod to the end of slavery. The stained glass also offers messages of inclusion, Marshall said.
“I don’t think these windows exclude anybody,” he told CBS News. “I think the activity and what they’re engaged in is something that everybody can partake in.”
Below the windows are words by poet Elizabeth Alexander, who performed at former President Barack Obama’s first inauguration.
“The final line of the poem, ‘may this portal be where the light comes in,’ that can illuminate the beauty of the past,’ Alexander said. “And also sometimes the untruths of the past.”
Marshall noted the personal importance for him of creating the cathedral’s windows.
“I don’t think I could have asked for anything more meaningful to have done in my life, as a kind of gift to the nation as a whole,” he said.
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