From a CC Beck interview:
Steamboat was created to capture the affection of negro readers. Unfortunately he offended them instead and was unceremoniously killed off after a delegation of blacks visited the editor's office protesting because he was a servant, because he had huge lips and kinky hair and because he spoke in a dialect. He was always a cartoon character, not intended to be realistic at all, but he was taken seriously by some, sadly enough.
I had read these views of C.C. Beck before (in
Alter Ego, I think), but I find it rather disturbing he still held them many years after Steamboat was featured, and didn't - or wouldn't - seem to understand why any offence may have been taken.
But then, in just about every thing I have read by (and about) Beck he came across as a very obstinate and strongly opinionated man, usually not willing to admit he could
ever be in the wrong.
Wing, the Crimson Avenger's Asian (Chinese?) sidekick of the 1940s, is depicted as a very grotesque caricature in the Seven Soldiers of Victory stories, in my opnion.