“ BLACK ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS PRETTY STAGNANT HERE . YOU DON ’ T GET VERY MANY EDITH KANES AND JESSE KANES TO THIS DAY .”
“ He said he wasn ’ t going to work for another person . He was going to work for himself ,” Edith recalled .
Jesse also wanted something different for Edith . He encouraged her to be a stay-at-home wife , but Edith didn ’ t go along with that part of the plan .
In fact , Edith didn ’ t initially want to join him as a business owner . Jesse had the idea of opening a restaurant , but Edith wasn ’ t too sure about the concept . But with some convincing from her family , Edith got on board .
Jesse and some of his friends went about transforming the extended garage that connected to their house into a restaurant . Jesse was skilled with his hands and good do just about anything when it came to construction . Edith was the financial manager and oversaw the restaurant ’ s operations .
“ They built it from the ground up ,” said Virginia Kane , one of the couple ’ s two daughters . “ It wasn ’ t something easy to do back then . For African Americans to do anything back then wasn ’ t easy .”
The original plan was to gear the restaurant toward teenagers , but Edith laughed as she said the obvious — it ’ s hard to make a living off of that age group .
So the decision was made to convert Jesse ’ s into a restaurant and bar .
Not only did Edith and Jesse have to depend on a white friend to sign-off on their requests for a liquor license , but some companies wouldn ’ t deliver their products to the restaurant because its owners were Black .
“ Some people stopped ordering from a certain liquor company because they were delivering to them ,” Virginia said .
Segregation was rampant during those times . Edith had attended the segregated Division Street School in New Albany before graduating from Nathaniel Scribner .
“ We never really talked about it . It was just accepted . It was a way of life back then ,” Edith said of segregation .
Jesse ’ s Bar and Grill was successful because it was wisely managed , had great food and always received high marks from the health department for cleanliness . The restaurant drew customers from Jeffersonville and Louisville , but until the 1980s and 1990s , the customers were primarily Black .
While there were a few other Blackowned restaurants in New Albany in the 1960s , Jesse ’ s Bar and Grill stayed in business the longest . The lunch crowd was always strong , as workers from nearby lumber yards and tanneries flocked into Jesse ’ s Bar and Grill for a good meal .
“ She served a lot of food . She was famous for her Jesse Burgers . They were just so big at the time ,” Virginia said as she flipped through old photographs . One captures the smiling couple with the restaurant in the background , as Jesse and Edith beamed with pride in the black-andwhite photograph .
When Jesse died in 1975 , the couple ’ s two daughters stepped up to help Edith keep the restaurant open , which they did until 1992 . Edith eventually
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