[Eric A. Taylor (OP)]

A science story I heard recently described a genetic "redistribution" map made of African-Americans (a term I happen to HATE especially when it's applied to people who are not American, like Naomi Campbell or Noel Clarke) that mapped out how genetic changes are made during sexual reproduction. The story mentioned that there were differences in this map from a map made of Europeans.

Considering that almost all African-Americans have quite a lot of European ancestry it got me to wondering what differences there are between African-Americans (and Europeans of largely African ancestry) and black Africans.

The blackest person I ever knew was the mother of some childhood friends who had grown up in Uganda. Her husband was American (and white) but she was as black as coal, and quite beautiful (her daughters were jaw droppers and about the color of coffee with 2 creams). It was odd for me as a kid. She didn't speak like a normal black person, rather she spoke with a very proper English accent.

[CliffordK]

I think you are right, many of the multigeneration African Americans are generally of a mixed race.  I have heard that they are frequently considered "white" when traveling in Africa.  Different communities may also have varying amounts of racial integration.

I remember doing a group exercise once where they had everyone line up from darkest to lightest.  While one could easily look at a person and determine whether or not the person was of African descent, truthfully, there was a full continuum of skin tones, and some of the African Americans might have even had lighter skin tones than some of the other racial groups.

Many countries outside of the USA prefer to teach the Queen's English, or the British variant of the language, although I would assume that each formerly British colony has developed its own language variant.