This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Working Title: Chocolate Baby: From YKTTW
Skin pigmentation is governed by straight Mendelian genetics, like we all rember from High School. Ergo while it is possible for two olive skinned 'African Americans' to have a 'chocolate baby' (remember those diagrams with pink flowers producing one red, one white and two pink offspring?). It is NOT possible for two 'passing for white' parents to produce a significantly darker child the 'dark genes' simply are not there. If they were the parents would also be dark.
Put simply: it is possible for two dark skinned parents to produce a child darker than either (like the red flower from two pinks) but it is NOT possible for a dark skinned and light skinned couple to produce a child darker than the dark parent (like the red and white flowers producing pinks). And it is completely IMPOSSIBLE for two pale skinned parents to produce a 'chocolate baby' whatever their ancestry as the melanin rich genes simply have not passed down.
This is in fact an exploded trope if ever there was one.
Juice Box Hero: Trope picture is Made Of Win.
