Community Book Center

Vera Warren-Williams, known affectionately as Mama Vera, holds court from behind the counter at Community Book Center on Bayou Road in New Orleans. Through the early afternoon, a steady stream of customers flows in, browsing books by Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston, along with works by local authors, and picking up an eclectic mix of posters, jewelry, shea butter, and handmade soaps.

Williams greets everyone as they step through the door. She helps a young woman recall the name of an elusive author and offers a graduate student thoughtful recommendations to enhance his coursework. To a couple visiting from California, she introduces Yanni, the resident bookstore cat, and explains the uses of Florida Water.

More than 40 years ago, Williams got her start selling books out of her car. She was 24 years old at the time and working as a substitute teacher. After growing up in the 9th ward, she was well aware of the lack of reading materials celebrating Black authors and intellectuals in the public schools. She decided to take matters into her own hands, going from school to school with a trunk full of literature.

By 1988, she was able to open her first brick-and-mortar bookstore at 1200 Ursulines in Treme. In 2003, she purchased the building for her current location in the heart of Bayou Road, one of New Orleans’ oldest paved streets and a thriving hub for small businesses, many of them Black-owned. The tradition of exchange and community endures, alive and well in every storefront.

A mural on the side of her building depicts a hand descending from the sky, offering a book to a young boy, with the word Ujamaa inscribed on its spine. It's a collaboration between two New Orleans-based artists, Brandan “BMike” Odums and READ MORE BOOKS.

“It’s the fourth principle of Kwanzaa,” Williams explains, “representing familyhood and cooperative economics. We’re a community here. We’re a family. We look out for each other… You know how it is.”