Needham Johnson
A reporter for the New York Age. Friend and former investigative partner of Hilton Adams.
Physical Description
General Physical Condition
A handsome, clean-shaven African-American man of average height and build, Johnson keeps his thick hair slicked back in waves. He is rarely seen out of a well-cared-for pinstriped suit
Mental characteristics
Personal history
A junior reporter when the Great War broke out, like so many others, Corporal Johnson went to war hoping that it would gain him recognition and equality once he returned from the front. His poetry and descriptions of the war were rejected by the New York Age as too dark and visceral for their readers, but Johnson still returned to work for them once the war was over. Several of his poems were later published by The Crisis (the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), founded in 1910).
While he knows Adams is innocent of the crimes with which he is charged, Johnson has been pressured by his employers to distance himself from his friends and their investigations; talk of cults and ritual murders is doing nothing to promote the image of a civilized Harlem the New York Age is trying to uphold. (Similar pressure has been brought to bear on the men by their church elders.) Johnson, like his friends, has also been threatened by Captain Robson and his men; Robson carefully using the implied danger to Johnson’s young family as very effective leverage (backed up by a series of unfortunate “accidents” and near misses in their vicinity). As such, Johnson feels he is at an impasse and there’s nothing he can do—for the moment, at least.
Roleplaying hooks: Johnson and his friends are reluctant to talk to the investigators for fear of making the situation worse than it already is (both for them and their community however, he can confirm their suspicions on certain matters regarding what has been going on in Harlem over the last few years.
Social
Mannerisms
World-weary and cynical, Johnson feels frustrated that he cannot help his friend, which can manifest in outbursts of extreme anger, especially if he’s been drinking.
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