Now and Forever Windows by Kerry James Marshall at Washington National Cathedral

In 2017, as America reckoned with its original sins of racism and slavery, Washington National Cathedral removed two stained glass windows that honored Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The windows had been given by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1953 as part of a nationwide campaign to cement the "Lost Cause" myth of the noble South in public monuments and in the public consciousness. In 2023, the Cathedral unveiled replacement windows by acclaimed artist Kerry James Marshall, along with original poetry by Elizabeth Alexander, that tell a more expansive version of our nation's history. The "Now and Forever" windows depict the dignified struggle of Black Americans' quest for fairness and equal treatment, and suggest that the struggle for social justice is ongoing and is waged in community. This book, produced by Washington National Cathedral, captures the entire history of the windows, beginning with the purpose of a National Cathedral; the nature of our public monuments; the events that precipitated the removal of the Lee-Jackson windows; the public engagement process that accompanied the replacement process; the selection and biographies of the artists; the concept of the windows and accompanying poetry; and the detailed process of fabricating new stained glass windows. Guest contributors include Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of Harvard University; the Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of Washington National Cathedral; the Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, canon theologian of the Cathedral; Dr. Eric L. Motley of the National Gallery of Art; Dr. Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw of the University of Pennsylvania; and the Rev. Canon Leonard L. Hamlin, Sr., canon missioner of the Cathedral.