Can two white people have a black baby?

Answer 1

it could be possible if one of the partners carries a recessive gene from color.

Answer 2

To the previous poster, you cannot apply Mendel's laws to skin color. Skin color is controlled by a number of factors not just one gene but multiple genes. Also the punnett square is designed to tell you a percentage using a monohybrid or dyhybrid cross, rather simple traits, it doesn't mean you should rule out things such as genetic mutation of genes and other factors which could control skin color. Skin color is much more difficult to apply in this siuation. The color of a person's skin also does not determine what race they are.

Co-domiance is applied to hair color in cattle and flowers, I don't think it can be applied to skin color. There are many factors that contribute to skin color. Also What is the definition of black? The problem here is that someone with a dark complection might been seen as black to one person but not to another.


In an attempt to answer the poster's question. If the mother has been sneaking around, yes. This is what people used to think and some people still do. It is an ignorant way to think and is absolutely wrong. Really though, this is a very good question.

The answer is yes they can, however the chances of it happening are extremely low. I wouldn't say it's 0% because as soon as I do someone will have a baby that proves me wrong. There are multiple genes that control skin color. If two white people have a baby that is dark skinned it doesn't mean that the woman has been cheating on the man, it simply means that their baby is in fact a very rare baby and many genes matched up in a way that produced that skin color.

Answer 3

Yes. It once happened in Spain. The man, a sailor, wasnt there as the baby was born, and the mother was very surprised and did not know how the father would react. She knew it was his baby, but he was white. As the man saw the baby, he enjoyed and said "just as the grandmother". His grandmother was black, but after two generations with white counterparts, he just looked as a normal white man.
Gens can be transferred for a very very long time. If some ancestor 300 years ago was black there is always the chance. And maybe you dont know you had a black ancestor.

I edit to add that it is not necesary that both bloodlines had a black ancestor. Just one bloodline is enough, though possibilities are smaller.

To the poster below, that is not true. First, Mendel genetics have been demonstrated to be quite wrong in several cases. Second, skin color is another matter. You can have a pitch black child if your grandgrandgrandfater/mother was black. It is unlikely, but possible.

Answer 4

no. this is not possible. only if the parents are mixed or biracial. two biracial parents have a 25% chance of having a black child... 25% chance of white child... and 50% chance of having a mixed child. unlike other genetic traits, race is codominant. this means that no race is dominant over another genetically. so where some features a recessive trait that a grandparent may have but a parent does not can be passed on to a child, this is not the case with race. the race of the child will always be a gene that was visible in the parent. have you ever heard of a punnett's square? we did them in biology to determine the likelihood of children having certain traits passed on genetically.

one exception might be if there is some genetic mutation or skin or pigment disorder that caused a coloration in the skin. i don't know of any such disorder but it might exist.

Answer 5

no.although it may seem plausible at first,because 2 tall people can offspring a dwarf and 2 brown haired people can have a black haired son,there is a fundamental distinction between these cases and ours.in both the sited examples the differance or contrast between parent child is brought about by differance in genotype.namely the tall gene is T(arbitrarily) and the not tall gene is 't'.then both the parents must have been "Tt".upon crossing genes there likes a possibility of a"tt" gene which results in a dwarf.
similarly anylysing our case we come across a slight variation viz.the gene for dark skin is the dominant gene.darkness is controlled by melalin in the skin(more melanin = more dark) and "M" is the gene for more melanin while 'm' for less..which means that just as in the tallness a dark person must have 'MM'.a brown person'Mm' and a white person'mm'.to get our teeth into the matter the tall person is tall for both-'TT','Tt'(to a lesser extent in the second case).while the white person is white for ONLY'mm'.because darkness ,just like tallness is the dominant gene.if one M is present the person isn't white but brown.the gene which controls black is analogous to the gene which controls tall.so for parents of 'mm'and 'mm',only one permutation exists-'mm'.
as an obvious converse two brown people can have a whit or a black son just like their taller counterparts,because they have"Mm" genes.which when crossed could give 'MM' or 'mm'.

Answer 6

As you can see from all the answers above, many people don't know for sure. (I am one of them.)

But if two white people DO have a black baby, I think there is enough confusion in the general population--or at least the Y!A population--that they can choose to explain it any way they choose, and no one would be the wiser. ~G~

Answer 7

Yes...it all depends on the geneology of the two people. The same goes with two african-american people having a caucasian child.

Answer 8

Yes, if the (recessive)* black gene expresses itself.

* if there was a black in your family, the gene, although on the verge of extermination might suddenly recur

Answer 9

of course if the woman had sex with a black man even though her husband is white

Answer 10

Yes, they can adopt a black baby...

Answer 11

Yes there may be latent genes in the parents