Feature Article   Profiles in Excellence: Landmarks in Black History Distrbuted By: Stop & Shop by Melissa Minners               February marks the celebration of Black History Month, a month in which we celebrate the contributions made to industry and culture by African-Americans in every aspect of our lives throughout history.  Stop & Shop, a national food chain, in conjunction with the Colgate-Palmolive Company, have been marking this celebration in various ways throughout the years on their websites and in Profiles of Excellence, a publication distributed in local Stop & Shop stores.  Issue 17 of Profiles in Excellence features Landmarks in Black History.             In this issue, the focus is on the landmarks that have become important “symbols of culture, community, education and even survival.”  We start off with the F.W. Woolworth store located on South Elm Street in Downtown Greensboro, North Carolina, the location of a sit-in that took place on February 1, 1960.  Four African American students from the Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina sat down at the “whites-only” lunch counter and ordered coffee.  They were ignored.  The following day, the four men returned with 19 more supporters.  They returned again and again until they had amassed 400 supporters and inspired similar sit-ins in several other southern cities sparking a move to integrate restaurant and lunch counters.             We are then introduced to the U Street Corridor in Washington, D.C. which was known as “Black Broadway” and featured such landmarks in Black History as the Lincoln Theater, a venue that featured live performances as well as first-run films, and Ben’s Chili Bowl, a highly successful eatery founded in 1958 and still operating today.             The Boston African American National Site consists of the largest area of pre-Civil War black-owned structures in the United States.  This site includes the Abiel Smith School, one of the earliest American schools run for and operated by African Americans, the African Meeting House, the oldest black church in the U.S., and the Lewis and Harriet Hayden house, a point on the Underground Railroad.             York County, Pennsylvania was a major destination along the Underground Railroad from the late 1700s through the 1860s.  The Wrightsville-Columbia Bridge in York County represents a pivotal sacrifice made by abolitionists during the Civil War.  They destroyed the bridge to stop the Confederate Army from using it to enter Lancaster.  The bridge has since been reconstructed.             The Moulin Rouge in Las Vegas, Nevada was the site of America’s first major integrated hotel.  Although it was only opened for a short period of time – May 24, 1955-October 1955 – it served as the first hotel to accept patrons from the predominantly white area of the Las Vegas Strip and the largely black population of the west side.  Performers such as Louis Armstrong, George Burns, Nat King Cole, Jack Benny, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. all spent some time at The Moulin Rouge.             TheCheyney University of Pennsylvania was founded in 1837 as the Institute for Colored Youth made possible by funds from philanthropist Richard Humphreys who envisioned a school of learning for “descendents of the African Race.”  The school initially was created to prepare and fit its African American students for careers in teaching about the arts, trades and agriculture.  It now caters to students of a variety of races and cultures, preparing them for careers in teaching, journalism, medicine, business and more.             What discussion of landmarks in Black History would be complete without the mention of the Apollo Theater in New York.  Located in Harlem, the Apollo Theater has been known as the place “where stars are born and legends are made” for almost 75 years.  Its famed Amateur Night contests began in 1934 and gave performers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Bill Cosby, Sammy Davis, Jr., James Brown, Gladys Knight, Luthor Vandross and many others a boost toward the road to stardom.             Profiles in Excellence: Landmarks in Black History is filled with 15 pages of pictures and compelling tales of history.  The publication is available free of charge at all Stop & Shop locations and on their website at www.stopandshop.com.  What a great way to teach the leaders of tomorrow important lessons about the landmarks that have become a part of what made us the country we are today!     For feedback, visit our message board or e-mail the author at talonkarrde@g-pop-net.