The Newtown Story
In the Spring of 1998 I was asked by Atlanta-based photographer
Michael A. Schwarz and author Ellen Griffith Spears to layout and
design as a book a project they had been working on for several years.

"The Newtown Story: One Community's Fight For Environmental
Justice" tells the story of an African American neighborhood in
Gainesville, GA, and of The Newtown Florist Club. The community
was built upon a landfill following a tornado that ripped through
Gainesville in 1936. Subsequent industrial development sprouted
in close proximity to the homes. In the early 1990's, residents
realized that many in the community were dying from the same
kinds of cancer. Suspicious, they began canvassing the
neighborhood, taking family histories and piecing
together a puzzle that remains unsolved.

Formed in the 1950's, The Newtown Florist Club started by buying
flowers for community funerals. Through the 60's and 70's, club
members became vocal leaders for civil rights and community.
improvement. Today, they lead "Toxic Tours" of Newtown,
and fight to find the cause of the cancer and lupus that
kills so many in their neighborhood.