Felix the Cat is one of the most recognised cartoon characters of all time. Felix has often been referred to as the ‘Charley Chaplin’ of cartoon characters: a figure alone in a hostile world, who relies on his own cunning to survive. Unlike most other characters of his time, Felix had a real personality which was expressed predominantly through his actions and movements. Felix was a blackface minstrel both in his design and behaviour: he was a mischievous trickster and his blackness of fur, association with Jazz, and his status as an outsider tied him to black culture. Felix was therefore shaped by, embodied, and perpetuated racial anxieties of the time. Of course, like other blackface minstrels, Felix was still tasked with ‘outwitting the other’ which involved turning against other black-coded characters and creating a hierarchy of blackness based upon how ‘civilised’ a given character was.
There are a couple of Felix the Cat cartoons that depict Felix treating a black character more like an equal: Saves the Day (1922) and Tries for Treasure (1923). These shorts contain the same caricature of a young black boy who stars alongside Felix and becomes his side kick in the latter short. In Felix Saves the Day, the boy is portrayed as a member of the ‘Tar Heels’ – a baseball team. While heavily stereotyped, the Tar Heels are still described quite positively, as “a tough team to be reckoned with”. However, the boy is developed in Tries for Treasure into a Sambo character, embodying subservience through his adherence to Felix’s wishes.
The ‘Tar Heels’ – Felix Saves the Day 
Sambo character – Felix Tries for Treasure
Having a cat portrayed as racially superior to a black boy really demonstrates how black people were considered in greater society at the time: as something inferior to be kept at the margins of white culture. This is a trend that would continue for decades since racist ideologies had been intertwined into the very fabric of animation itself.
Animation, Race and Progress 