Reading saved DJ Johnson’s life. And now, he’s working to put books in the hands of kids across New Orleans to give them the same opportunities he had growing up in a family of passionate readers.
Johnson is the owner of Baldwin & Co., a coffee shop and bookstore in the heart of New Orleans with the goal not only to inspire conversation surrounding social justice issues, but also expand and improve literacy amongst both youth and adults.

It’s a Black-owned bookstore unlike any in the area, with a mission Johnson said he realized the moment he moved back to New Orleans during the COVID-19 pandemic and began engaging with youth in the community. Many of the kids, he said, were involved in “mischievous things,” and he encouraged them to “be more intentional about crafting their lives.” “I was like, ‘Hey, I’ve come from the same impoverished conditions that you have, but what changed my life was a book,’” said Johnson, a graduate of Clark Atlanta University. “That’s when I realized the power of books, through those conversations trying to encourage everyone for a better life, we can build a better New Orleans one book at a time.”
Through improving the city and state’s literacy rates, he added, it decreases the number of students who drop out of school and might become impoverished, or even turn to crime to get by.

“You improve healthcare … it improves our environmental health conditions, it improves workforce development [and] employment,” he said. “If we simply teach people how to read, the quality of life in New Orleans drastically improves.”
It’s also why those at Baldwin & Co. offer workshops such as financial literacy and physical health awareness classes not just for the youth, but adults as well. They’ve also brought diverse voices into town such as Nikole Hannah-Jones and Charlamagne Tha God to create opportunities for the community to engage in “intellectual growth and connection.”
In that sense, Johnson said the bookstore can “inspire an ecosystem that celebrates literacy, that celebrates reading.”
But in a community that’s historically seen low literacy rates amongst its youth, Baldwin & Co.’s mission becomes that much more challenging, Johnson noted, comparing it to opening “a burger joint in a vegan town.”
“If you come from a household that’s reading below grade level, that typically says something about the household you came from,” he said. “The biggest challenge is being able to encourage and motivate and inspire people to read in a town where it hasn’t been customary.”


To do that, Johnson said he encourages literacy to begin with the parents and to set the example for their children to read more, whether that be as small as reading together for 10 minutes a day. And soon, that 10 minutes a day will become a book a month.
“If you do that, imagine the exponential growth that you’ll have in your intellect, your thoughtfulness, your perspectives, your ideas,” he said. “Invest in literacy today and empower the minds and shape a brighter tomorrow.”

Baldwin & Co. will be hosting National Book Award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates at Xavier University of Louisiana on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. Coates will be joined on stage by renowned journalist and political commentator Joy-Ann Reid in a conversation about his new book and the process behind it.
For more information visit Baldwin & Co.
Open 7 days a week, Monday – Sunday: 7am – 6pm
1030 Elysian Fields Ave, New Orleans, Louisiana 70117 or
Call: (504) 354 – 1741 to request books for pick up.
Emails can be sent to [email protected] or tickets to the Ta-Nahisi Coates event can be purchased here.