Thread: how did we get black people?

They laid out in the sun too long and it just stuck........ok maybe not....some may chalk it up to evolution. Personally I have no idea and don’t really care. It isn’t that big a deal what one’s color is or how it got that way.

genesis didn't say adam & eve were white either...

that's true, but there's also a theory that the three sons of Noah had different color skin, making them the fathers of "color"

however, skin adapts to it's enironment, as do all living things... or else they become dead things... thusly, Africa is hot..... really really really hot... your skin needs protecting from all those rays... so the skin darkens to do so....

black people didn't happen magically if that's what you're wondering...

^_^ or maybe we were all black in the beginning and got lighter!!!

^.~ what!!!? you don't know!!!

Also what exactly is a "black" person?

Wikipedia offers the following tig-bit of history:

In the Southern United States, it became known as the one-drop rule, meaning that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person "black". Some courts have called it the traceable amount rule, and anthropologists call it the hypo-descent rule, meaning that racially mixed persons are assigned the status of the subordinate group. This definition emerged from the American South to become America's national definition, generally accepted by whites and blacks -- but for different reasons. White supremacists, whose motivation was racist, considered anyone with African ancestry tainted, inherently inferior morally and intellectually and, thus, subordinate. During slavery, there was also a strong economic incentive to maximize the number of individuals who could be owned, bred, worked, traded and sold outright as human chattel. The designation of anyone possessing any trace of African ancestry as "black", and, therefore, of subordinate status to whites, guaranteed a source of cheap labor during slavery and for decades afterward. For African Americans, the one-drop system of racial designation was a significant factor in ethnic solidarity. African Americans generally shared a common lot in society and, therefore, common cause -- regardless of their ethnic admixture and social and economic stratification.

P.S. 400 Woot!

According to the bible, the ethnicities of the world come from the sons of Noah after the flood, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. After the flood, the brothers seperated and were each given part of the world. These brothers formed the 3 races "Semetic" "Hamitic" and "Japhetic".

Shem/'semetic': It used to be considered that all peoples from Asia were considered semites, but now the term is generally used specifically for people of the jewish religion.

Ham/'hamitic': Ham is considered the father of the African People

Japheth/'japhetic': Japheth is considered the father of Europeans.

there is also the biological and geogrphfical view. Humans are much like animals and just as animals we can adapt or evolve into our surroundings.,
like lets say the Africans., sun parched lands and extreme heat, a humans body isnt UV protected naturally so what you get is a gradual darkening and it becomes part of thier genes to inherit darker skin...?thats my opinion.

I agree with you Sasurai, it would come down to biological and geographical reasons for that sort of stuff, because the bodies would have to adapt to the environment.

Megsaturn brought up Adam and Eve, so the sons of Noah is just the biblical explanation