The Washington National Cathedral issued a statement on Thursday announcing that it will be replacing historic stained glass windows that depict Confederate iconography with “woke” racial-justice themed windows that honor African Americans.
There are 231 stained glass windows in the National Cathedral. The windows that are being replaced were were installed in 1953 and they were removed in 2017.
Reverend Reveals Windows Will Be Replaced In National Cathedral
The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral, revealed this in the following statement obtained by WJLA:
“For nearly 70 years, these windows and their Confederate imagery told an incomplete story; they celebrated two generals, but they did nothing to address the reality and painful legacy of America’s original sin of slavery and racism. They represented a false narrative of what America once was and left out the painful truth of our history. We’re excited 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.”
Take a look:
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What Will Replace The Confederate Windows?
The windows will be replaced by work from artist Kerry James Marshall.
The massive cathedral often serves as the setting for major national events. The new windows will replace a set that had honored two Confederate generals, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson.
https://t.co/XzqMLIBkLg— KMVT News (@KMVTNews) September 23, 2021
“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, and a real honor to be asked,” said Marshall. “The themes that the Cathedral committee articulated set a great challenge for me as an artist and as a Black American man. The goal is to make truly meaningful additions to an already rich and magnificent institution, to make the changes they have embraced truly worth the effort.”
Officials with the cathedral added that the new windows will “capture both darkness and light, both the pain of yesterday and the promise of tomorrow, as well as the quiet and exemplary dignity of the African American struggle for justice and equality and the indelible and progressive impact it has had on American society.”
Here’s a video showing the thought that went into the decision:
‘Woke’ Poem To Accompany Windows
Dr. Elizabeth Alexander, a renowned poet, author, and scholar, will be writing a poem that will be inscribed on some stones next to the new windows created by Marshall.
These stones will overlay the previous stones, which reflected the lives of Confederate soldiers.
“I am incredibly honored to be a part of the National 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,” Alexander said in a statement of her own.
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Both the windows and the stone tablets that will be next to them are scheduled to be completed sometime in 2023.
The window that had previously been in the National Cathedral, which depicted Confederate General Robert E. Lee, will be displayed in D.C. for an exhibit at the NMAAHC through Aug. 21, 2022.
This is yet another example of the “woke” left trying to erase American history.
Like it or not, the Confederacy is a part of America’s past, and the historic remnants of it should not be destroyed.
Once the remnants of the Confederacy are gone, we can only imagine what the “woke” left will target next for erasure.