Memphis Brooks Museum of Art was selected by Rhode Island leaders in the arts, historical preservation and Black history to receive the oldest known stained glass depicting Jesus as a person of color, also known as the “Black Gospel Window.”
WARREN, R.I. (AP) A nearly 150-year-old stained-glass church window in Rhode Island that depicts a dark-skinned Jesus Christ interacting with women in New Testament scenes has found a new home at a museum in Tennessee. The window installed at the long-closed St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Warren in 1878 is the oldest known public example of stained glass on which Christ is depicted as a person of color that one expert has seen. The 12-foot tall, 5-foot wide (3.7 meters by 1.5 meters) window depicts two biblical passages in which women, also painted with dark skin, appear as equals to Christ.
A nearly 150-year-old stained-glass church window in Rhode Island that depicts a dark-skinned Jesus Christ interacting with women in New Testament scenes known to many as the “Black Gospel Window” has found a new home at a museum in Tennessee. The window was installed in 1878 at the now-closed St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Warren. It is the oldest known public example of stained glass on which Christ is depicted as a person of color that one expert has seen.