Controversial Stained Glass Window Depicts Dark-Skinned Jesus in New England.

A stained-glass window depicting a dark-skinned Jesus Christ interacting with women in New Testament scenes has raised questions about race, Rhode Island's role in the slave trade, and the place of women in 19th century New England society. 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 window has now been scrutinized by scholars, historians, and experts trying to determine the motivations of the artist, the church, and the woman who commissioned the window in memory of her two aunts, both of whom married into families that had been involved in the slave trade.