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Harlem in Disorder: A Spatial History of How Racial Violence Changed in 1935

Harry Johnson assaulted

Harry Johnson, a white reporter for the New York American, was walking on 125th Street at 7th Avenue, when a group of three Black men allegedly attacked him. The Daily Mirror published the most dramatic account, describing a cry ringing out, “There’s a reporter. Get Him!” Where the New York American reported that the group then “severely” beat Johnson, the Daily Mirror had them “badly” kick him, implying he had been knocked to the ground. (The New York Herald Tribune and Brooklyn Daily Eagle listed Johnson as the victim of a different form of assault, hit by a bottle, while the New York Evening Journal, in listing him among the injured, described him only as having "bruises of face." Given the lack of details in those reports, Johnson is categorized as assaulted by a group).

Despite both reports emphasizing the violence of the assault on Johnson, his injuries are recorded as cuts to his lips. The Daily Mirror continued the drama of its description by reporting that “he refused to go off duty and stuck to his job.” Johnson’s own paper contradicted that account and reported he received treatment at Harlem Hospital, although he does not appear in those records. The New York Evening Journal more ambiguously reported that he was treated by an ambulance surgeon, after which Johnson could have been taken to the hospital or returned to work.

The area around 125th Street and 7th Avenue saw a cluster of assaults throughout the disorder, and a fatal shooting, including the other reported attacks on a member of the press, the New York Daily News photographer Everett Breuer and his assistant Joseph Martin. Reporters likely gathered in this area as police established their headquarters at the intersection and it was accessible by the subway at 125th St and Lenox Avenue, and near to Kress’ store, the starting point for the riot and gathering information on what was happening. No time is given for the assault on Johnson, or on Breuer and Martin.

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