LOUISVILLE, Ky. — To commemorate the first day of Black History Month, February 1st, we remember Shirley Mae Beard of Shirley Mae’s Cafe. The woman who fed the minds and stomachs of the community.
Beard, fondly known as Shirley Mae, found a way to keep Black History alive with her restaurant in the Smoketown neighborhood, which served her neighbors in the Sheppard Square and Clarksdale Housing Projects. They were Louisville’s first African American community and around the corner from the gym where a young Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammad Ali, trained.
Feeding thousands from her shotgun style restaurant which some called a ‘juke joint’, which means a hangout, for African Americans where they could enjoy good music, dancing and great food found in many southern Black communities across the United States…