Morris “Morrie” Turner, the Oakland, Calif.-born cartoonist who broke racial barriers in the 1960s when he became the first African-American to have a syndicated comic strip — the gently humored, ethnically diverse “Wee Pals” — has died. He was 90.

Turner was the self-taught son of a Pullman porter and protégé of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. When he created “Wee Pals” in 1965, characters of color rarely appeared in comic strips.

“Morrie was a pioneer with his ‘rainbow power’ message many decades before it became a household name,” said Rick Newcombe, founder of Creators, the company that syndicates “Wee Pals.”