Vera Warren-Williams’ Community Book Center in New Orleans is located at 2523 Bayou Rd. (Photo courtesy of AALBC.com.)

Where in the U.S. can you find the most well-read African Americans?  Look no further.

We reviewed our website’s traffic and ranked, on a per capita basis, the number of visitors from cities with more than 200,000 residents.

Durham, North Carolina, home of North Carolina Central and Duke Universities, tops the list.   The state of North Carolina shares the honor of having the most cities in the top 20 (three), with New York State.  New York State had the highest number of visitors, but North Carolina easily beat New York on a per capita basis.

This article was prompted by a similar article found on Time Inc’s website, “The 20 ‘Most Well-Read Cities’ in America, According to Amazon.com”.

#1 – Durham, North Carolina

#2 – Manhattan, New York

#3 – Atlanta, Georgia

#4 – Washington, District Of Columbia

#5 – Miami, Florida (3rd on Amazon's List)

#6 – Saint Louis, Missouri (11th on Amazon's List)

#7 – Cleveland, Ohio

#8 – Baltimore, Maryland

#9 – New Orleans, Louisiana

#10 – Raleigh, North Carolina

#11 – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

#12 – Memphis, Tennessee

#13 – Charlotte, North Carolina

#14 – Bronx, New York

#15 – Detroit, Michigan

#16 – Brooklyn, New York

#17 – Chicago, Illinois

#18 – Jacksonville, Florida

#20 – Houston, Texas

Source: The African American Literature Book Club, AALBC.com's website's traffic ranking, on a per capita basis, the number of visitors from cities with more than 200,000 residents.

New York City's five boroughs were treated separately because of their large populations; Manhattan (1,619,090), The Bronx (1,408,473), Brooklyn (2,565,635). f New York City was treated as a single city (combining Manhattan, Brooklyn, and The Bronx) it would still be in the top 20 but Dallas and Los Angeles would then be added to the list at #19 and #20 respectively.

The total number of cities captured in the sample was over 500 globally. There were two non-American cities which made the top 20 (Ottawa, Ontario and London, England), but they were excluded because only American cities were considered for this list.

Reprinted from TSD Memphis

GWENDOLYN BAINES

(NNPA)—Dear Gwendolyn:

I need your advice.  I am having some serious family issues. This is the problem: Four years ago I was in a terrible car accident.
I was in a coma for six months.  When I woke up, I discovered my left leg had been amputated below the knee, and my right leg was amputated at the ankle. I stayed with my mother for one year then moved in with my aunt. My mother is keeping my brother’s children.

He has four boys and two girls. I moved because his children were being cruel to me. My mother tried to stop them, but could not discipline them. My brother does not want anyone to correct them when they do wrong—not even my mother.
Another issue is when my fiancee learned of my new physical condition, he quit me. Help me please.  I get so depressed at times.–Rhoda

Dear Rhoda:

I am glad that you made the decision to move in with your aunt.  When parents don’t want their children to be disciplined, they will cry later. My mother’s saying was, “Best for me to discipline you because the police won’t.” Your brother needs to keep his own children.

Hopefully, your mother will return that responsibility to him.

Rhoda, try hard not to be down in spirit about your condition.  Think about it.  Many car accidents result in the passenger being killed on impact.  You are so blessed, you went into a coma and—you woke up.

(Got a problem? Write to Gwendolyn Baines at: P.O. Box 10066, Raleigh, N.C. 27605-0066 or email her at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .)

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Your child has caught some bug that’s going around.

He has a terminal case of The Gimmes, and he’s not getting any better. It’s “gimme that” and “buy me this” all day long. It’s gimmegimmegimme, usually accompanied by whining, pleading, and a maddening inability to understand the word “no.”

The Gimmes are enough to make any parent crazy. They make you wish there was some sort of doctor who had some sort of shot to prevent it. But there isn’t - so why not read “Do I Look Like an ATM?” by Sabrina Lamb instead?

LOVE THE HATS—Gloria Brown, Ruthie King, Ruby Wade and Kwajalein Ratliff

April 27 was a beautiful day to put on a beautiful hat, grab your fan and gloves, and attend the Afternoon Tea hosted by the Homewood AMEZ Senior Missionary Society. Guests enjoyed uplifting musical selections by the J.B. Martin Singers and a humorous skit that centered on the beauty of wearing beautiful “crowns” and having hattitude while wearing them.

The skit incorporated a hat fashion show where models wore hats that had a history. Some of the hats belonged to family members and were passed along to the wearer; one hat was purchased in London and was brought all the way back to Pittsburgh.

This year’s tea pourers were Blanche Butler, Holiday Memorial in Braddock, and Lillie Matthews, St. Mark AME. The hat models were Kwajalein Ratliff, Gloria Brown, Ruthie King, Ruby Wade, Minnie Gardner, Doris Strothers, Sheila Johnson Lillie Matthews and Toni Phinisee. Homewood AMEZ Church First Lady Debra Dennison did a beautiful job of sharing the occasion and welcome.

Members say the Afternoon Tea has an 11 year history and they plan to continue on as long as they are blessed to do so.

GOOD FRIENDS--Brenda J. Simon and Wendy Dean

TABLE MATES--Jeanine Andrews, Dominique Berry and Sylvia Berry

STAR OF THE SKIT-- Sylvia Berry

BEAUTIFUL MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

TEA POURER-- Blanche Butler

TEA POURER-- Lillie Matthews

FAITHFUL SERVENTS-- Wayne Phinisee, Toni Phinisee, Debra Dennison and Reverend Stanley C. Dennison

(All Photos by Debbie Norrell)

Your comments are welcome.
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