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Since modern humans originated in Africa, then spread all over the world, we know that black or brown is the original skin color. So how did some people turn out to have white skin? It’s all about Vitamin D.

Vitamin D is the vitamin we get from exposure to the sun. A lack of it can make us more susceptible to everything from heart disease to cancer. Lighter skin absorbs more of this valuable vitamin, and lower levels of vitamin D at higher latitudes, where the sun is less intense, are probably what caused the lightening effect of some modern humans.
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American blacks searching for their African roots are finding it’s not so easy. In the January 27th edition of the New York Times, Edward Rothstein says, "The astounding thing about American slavery is not that it existed–the enslavement of one people by another may be one of history’s universals–but that it persisted. It lasted into an era when its absence could be imagined and its presence could become an outrage."
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YOU may not be racist, but your immune system is: A major difference in the way that cells from African-Americans respond to inflammation could be an answer to why this group has so much more hypertension, something that has eluded scientists for many years. It’s another indication that our immune systems are racial.

Researcher Michael Brown tested the effects of a protein that causes inflammation when cells are damaged on the cells that line blood vessels in both African-Americans and Caucasians, to determine whether the inflammation affected the cells differently.
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Everyone’s a little bit racist, but it may not be your fault. A research team thinks our culture may be partially to blame. And another team of researchers has found that the perception of race can be altered by cues to social status as simple as the clothes a person wears.

In one experiment, participants were asked to determine the race of computerized faces. Faces accompanied by business attire were more likely to be seen as white, whereas faces accompanied by janitor attire were more likely to be seen as black. Racial categorization represents a complex and subtle process powerfully shaped by context and the stereotypes and prejudices we already hold.
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