The depiction of Jackson leaves much to be desired.

But horrific execution thereof.

Charles Schulz had been doing respectful depictions of characters like Franklin for at least several years by that point. What was Ketcham's problem?

I mean, re-captioning and editing innocent funny page cartoons is a frequent and sometimes hilarious pastime of the internets.

But from all indications, it looks to be authentic:

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=1861324

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-10-06/lifestyle/9010050519_1_ketcham-dennis-the-menace-arnold-palmer

<snip>

Dennis hasn't always been all smiles, though. At the height of the civil rights movement, Ketcham tried to introduce a black friend to the Mitchell neighborhood's cast of characters. His name was ''Jackson.''

''I've got a race problem with Jackson,'' Dennis said in the introductory panel. ''He can run faster than me.''

The outrage started in Detroit then spread south to St. Louis, where black readers threw rocks and bottles through the windows of the Post-Dispatch. They objected to Jackson's huge lips and big white eyes. ''I gave them a miniature Steppin' Fetchit,'' Ketcham wrote. ''What they wanted was a half-pint Harry Belafonte.''

The character was dropped after one panel. As Ketcham puts it, ''Jackson was forced to stay in the inkwell.''

<more>

Sometimes forgot to attach Dennis's head to his body.
And yeah, that's quite offensive, even for 1970.