The Washington National Cathedral will replace a set of stained glass windows displaying Confederate symbols with a series of racial justice–themed pieces, according to a statement on its website Thursday.
The windows portraying Confederate Gens. Robert E. Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson “did nothing to address the reality and painful legacy of America’s original sin of slavery and racism,” said Rev. Randolph Hollerith.
The replacement windows will be the creation of artist Kerry James Marshall, according to the cathedral’s website.
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His mission is “to share a new and more complete story, to tell the truth about our past and to lift up who we aspire to be as a nation,” Hollerith said.
Elizabeth Alexander, a poet who spoke at the inauguration of former President Barack Obama, will craft an original piece “that will be inscribed in stone tablets alongside Marshall’s window installation, overlaying the previous stone tablets which venerated the lives of Confederate soldiers,” according to the cathedral.
The cathedral’s announcement came a day after a memorial celebrating the end of slavery was revealed in Richmond, Virginia, where the statue of Lee had stood for decades, Reuters reported.
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The “racial-themed” windows are anticipated to be installed in 2023, a spokesperson for the cathedral said.
