High Yellow - Skin Color

Skin Color

Many high yellows are as light skinned as Europeans, and even lighter than some Europeans. Their specific skin hue is generally the result of European ancestry from sexual unions with Africans during the colonial and 19th-century period in the United States during the long history of slavery. In other cases, some African descendants simply have naturally lighter-skinned genes than most other Africans, without admixture.

One ethnic group for which light skin is characteristic are the indigenous tribes of the Khoi and San of South Africa. They have noticeably pale, yellow-toned skin, yet have some of the oldest indigenous African DNA on the continent. (They were not among the groups who were most frequently transported as slaves to North America.) Scientific studies conclude that natural human skin color diversity is highest in Sub-Saharan African populations because of the highly diverse population; many Sub-Saharan Africans and their descendents may be naturally extremely light skinned, with others in their family being naturally extremely dark skinned. In addition, Africa has had its own long history of admixture among peoples, especially with Arabs in coastal and other regions of Africa nearest to the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa where the people came into contact. (Relethford 2000).