Genuardis turned into Giant grocery store

Recently I made a road trip to the Giant grocery store that took over the Genuardi's grocery on Boot Road in East Goshen Township.  It was very busy on the evening of my visit.  The store has an "upscale" look for being a Giant store.  I enjoyed that part!  It has the Giant products we know from the big box grocery chain, too.  Giant remodeled a bit but as typical of Genuardi's there are corners, nooks and crannies remaining in the store.  Also a vestige of the old store is the cafe area, complete with microwave and sitting booths.  I sat in the cafe for a moment and took in the artwork on the wall.  Above the plastic silverware were several framed photographs of downtown Philadelphia from the late 1800's and early 1900's.  I was dumbfounded for a minute on account of how much the city looks the same from then until now.  First I took in the major buildings in the photos because the landmarks are still standing today - the old Wanamaker's store;  and other buildings near Broad and Market.  Next I took in the horizon.  Smokestacks lurked in the background, much as they do today.  Then I saw the city streets.  The city was bustling with activity.  Even back then, it was as crowded as today.  The street was filled with all modes of transportation:  cars, trolleys, horses with buggies, and people on foot.  I peered even closer.  Then I saw her.  First I noticed the absence of color as if there were a shadow in the photo.  It was not a shadow.  In the 1800's photo was an African American woman, dressed up to the nines in a long dress trimmed with ribbon and lace, wearing a hat and with her hair done up in a fancy tiered bun type of hairdo, like something out of Anne of Green Gables.   The woman walked properly, and excitedly, across the street on an errand.  The expression on her face was one of content anticipation.  It gave me pause to consider this woman walking freely and purposefully alone in the city, without hesitation.  It made me proud of the history of our city, as a place with a rich history for giving opportunity to African Americans.   And it made me wistful about the crime in the city today.  Could a woman, white or black, feel comfortable walking in the city today with her head held high, like the woman in the photo, without worrying about the wrong type of attention she might attract?  Have conditions really improved since the 1890's?   If the woman from the photo could walk into our world, I think she would tell us to walk tall and proud.  The next time I travel to the city, I will remember her the instant I step out of the SEPTA terminal at Market East onto the sidewalk on Market Street.  My spine will straighten out and the crown of my head might touch the clouds.