Bannerman presented one of the first black heroes in children's literature, positively portraying black characters, especially in comparison to the more negative books of that era that depicted blacks as simple and uncivilised.
However, it would become an object of allegations of racism in the mid-20th century, due to the names of the characters being racial slurs for dark-skinned people, and the fact the illustrations were, as Langston Hughes put it, in the pickaninny style. Both text and illustrations have undergone considerable revisions since. (WIKI)
