• Question: why are black people black

    Asked by shaanii to Hermine, Katy, Laura, Nathalie, Paula on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Nathalie Pettorelli

      Nathalie Pettorelli answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Hi there,

      Because of a pigment, the melanin – its concentration varies according to your genes 😉

    • Photo: Paula Salgado

      Paula Salgado answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      The colour of our skin depends on the amount of a protein called melanin in our skin cells. This protein has the ability to reflect sun light and how much you have depends on your genes.

      Because the protein reflects light, people how lived in harmer, more sunny regions of the planet evolved to produce more melanin so they were better protected from the nasty effects of sun light. A bit like having a sun screen in your cells. 😉

      People how lived in areas where there is less sun, like the north of Europe, evolved mechanisms to lower the amount of melanin in their cells so they can absorb as much sunlight as possible (which is need for your bones to grow, ofr example).

      So black people are black because the have more melanin in their skin cells.

    • Photo: Laura Dixon

      Laura Dixon answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Because they have high levels of melanin in their skin. Did you know we all had darker skin at some point and eventually evolved to have lighter skin?

    • Photo: Hermine Schnetler

      Hermine Schnetler answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Melanine. It is a protein that is in our bodies that protects us from the sun. Black people have more melanine than white people and this is what makes there skin darker.

    • Photo: Katy Mee

      Katy Mee answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      According to wikipedia:
      The evolution of dark skin is linked intrinsically to the loss of body hair in humans. By 1.2 million years ago, all people having descendants today had the same receptor protein of today’s Africans; their skin was dark, and the intense sun killed off the progeny (offspring) with any lighter skin that resulted from mutational variation in the receptor protein…..

      Hope that helps!

      Things like skin colour are related to your genetic make-up, but evolution alos has a large affect – so for example, indigenous black populations tend to be located in hotter climates (Africa, Aborigines of Australia etc) because the black skin is less likely to burn so it actually has a health benefit rather than just being a trait.

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