Blue Eyed Africans

From Trip Down Memory Lane Blog

I ran onto this article the other day.  I don’t even know how… somehow it just came up in a Google picture search.  This photo popped up and I thought wow, those eyes are beautiful.

My family has brilliant blue eyes.  I have a cousin who’s eyes are such a light, vibrant blue that they look fake.  But we are a bunch of Scots, so blue eyes are not to be unexpected.  These dark skin beauties on this page, however, just blew me away with the unexpected and amazing contrast in their faces. 

Blue eyes among people of African descent isn’t a new thing.  Several famous African Americans have these gorgeous eyes, such as Vanessa Williams and Denise Vassi.  But where did it come from?  According to this article, the theory goes that European light skin and eyes were a mutation allowing those in the higher latitudes to  absorb enough light to meet their vitamin D needs. It goes back to one mutation 6,000-10,000 years ago, and spread throughout Europe in the time that followed. 

So, why do some non-European people of African descent have this light eye? 

From Trip Down Memory Lane Blog

The article doesn’t present many theories.  With the exception of Waardenberg Syndrome, where blue eyes are one of the many symptoms, this rare color occasionally just appears from 100% African parents.

It seems fitting that in a socially evolving world, slowly coming closer to a true blending of peoples, we'd see features predominantly attributed only to one variety of human to appear in another.  Yes, we are still very far from truly becoming a single, united species.  Even still, Mother Nature seems to be throwing us hints of what kind of a people she'd hope we could one day become.