Have you ever seen a Blue Eyed Black Man or Woman? What was your first response? When I saw one approximately 25 years ago while walking home from school, I nearly passed out. As the lady was not an albino, my initial assumption was that she must be a Mami Water (mermaid). From a distance, it was unsettling to observe, but as I got closer, the woman appeared so attractive and intriguing.
This experience is not entirely unlike from the reaction of some Nigerian parents who had a newborn girl with blonde hair and blue eyes in London a few years ago. The husband was astonished to see the infant. Their marriage may have ended if he hadn’t so fully believed his wife, at least until a DNA test established the baby’s paternity.
Can You Be Black and Have Blue Eyes?
In short, yes, you very well can.
Even while it’s feasible, black people without any Caucasian ancestry are nonetheless exceedingly unlikely to have blue eyes. The majority of persons with blue eyes, according to studies, are related to an ancient genetic abnormality. Few people develop blue eyes as a result of illnesses that change the colour of the eye.
Many people still today think that people with blue eyes or other eye colors other than brown are not of African heritage, or that if they are, they must be wearing colored contact lenses. Some apprehensions regarding people with blue eyes have been voiced.
They are evil, according to some, some people. Others are curious as to whether those with blue eyes have trouble focusing, seeing well, or hearing properly. While some of these worries are unfounded, others, like the impact on hearing, appear to be accurate.
Contrary to popular belief, however, Black Africans can also have blue eyes, and there are several reasons for this. Blue eyes are not typically the domain of Asians or Europeans.
What Is the Origin of Blue Eyes in Black People?
First, a genetic abnormality can cause someone to have blue eyes. According to livescience.com, “all the blue-eyed humans alive today are the result of a single mutation that emerged as recently as 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.”
This was investigated by Professor Hans Eiberg’s group at the University of Copenhagen. They examined the genes of 800 blue-eyed men and women and discovered that every single one of them shared the same gene sequence.
The team’s findings were reported in the Journal of Human Genetics. They discovered a single mutation in the gene “OCA2” that happened accidentally in one person about 8,000 years ago somewhere near the Black Sea’s northwest shore.
A person of African descent may also have blue eyes if they have White relatives who are the gene’s carriers on both sides of the family.
In addition to genetic mutation, Waardenburg Syndrome, a defect acquired from a single parent who may exhibit identical traits, can also contribute to blue eyes. Waardenburg Syndrome comes in a variety of forms, but it is fundamentally an uncommon condition marked by sensorineural deafness in conjunction with pigmentary anomalies and malformations of tissues derived from the neutral crest.
Some people have also asserted that the Neanderthals, who became extinct some 25,000 years ago, were involved in prehistoric interbreeding that led to the development of blue eyes. Another idea put up in Afritorial claims that blue eyes and blonde hair evolved as a result of a process known as “sex selection,” in which males and females choose partners based on one peculiar physical trait that isn’t always connected to fitness.
