# I'm mulatto, and albino **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mulatto-and-albino/84049 "2001-09-27T03:05:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hippy144](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/90db22/32.png) [@Hippy144](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy144)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mulatto-and-albino/84049/1 "2001-09-27T03:05:19Z")
For years I’ve misheard Kurt Cobains lyrics “A mulatto. An albino.” Thinking he was saying something deeper like “I’m mulatto, and albino” seeing as they’d make him white. My question is, can you be albino and mulatto, or black, hispanic, asian ect. I’m sure since albino aligators, snakes, and turtles are fairly common that it could affect other races than white, but I’ve never seen them. Would it dull the pigment, or get rid of it entirely? Can the Albino trait be passed on? If so, do both partners have to be albino? What if only one is? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mulatto-and-albino/84049/2 "2001-09-27T03:20:14Z")
I don’t know exactly know the answers to your questions, but I do know that albinism is most common in people of African descent. And I have personally known an albino of Hispanic descent. Does that help at all? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mulatto-and-albino/84049/3 "2001-09-27T03:35:39Z")
Well, there is such a thing as an albino Negro. Picture. [http://www.wits.ac.za/fac/med/gen/disease.htm](http://www.wits.ac.za/fac/med/gen/disease.htm) [http://www.wits.ac.za/fac/med/gen/genet\_disorders\_lista-d.htm](http://www.wits.ac.za/fac/med/gen/genet_disorders_lista-d.htm) > [@](#): > > Oculocutaneous albinism (OCA2) is the most common autosomal recessive disorder among southern African blacks, with a prevalence of 1 in 3900 individuals (while only 1 in 15 000 white people in southern Africa are affected). If you want to know more, it’s on Google under “albinism blacks”. “Albinism negro” just gets you Darwin’s quote about albino blacks in Africa. About albinism. It’s genetic. [http://www.albinism.org/publications/what-is-albinism.html](http://www.albinism.org/publications/what-is-albinism.html) > [@](#): > > Genetics of Albinism: For nearly all types of albinism both parents must carry an albinism gene to have a child with albinism. Because the body has two sets of genes,a person may have normal pigmentation but carry the albinism gene. If a person has one gene for normal pigmentation and one gene for albinism, he or she will have enough genetic information to make normal pigment. The albinism gene is “recessive”\_it does not result in albinism unless a person has two copies of the gene for albinism and no copy of the gene that makes normal pigment. > > When both parents carry the gene, and neither parent has albinism, there is a one in four chance at each pregnancy that the baby will be born with albinism. This type of inheritance is called autosomal recessive inheritance. > > (The most common type of ocular albinism follows a different pattern of inheritance. The NOAH Information Bulletin “Ocular Albinism” has more information.) > > Each parent of a child with oculocutaneous albinism must carry the gene. Both the father and the mother must carry the gene for albinism. For couples who have not had a child with albinism, there is no simple test to determine whether a person carries a gene for albinism. Researchers have analyzed DNA of people with albinism and found the changes that cause albinism, but these changes are not always in exactly the same place, even for a given type of albinism. Therefore the tests for the gene may be inconclusive. ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mulatto-and-albino/84049/4 "2001-09-27T03:37:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Hippy144 \* > \*\*I’m sure since albino aligators, snakes, and turtles are fairly common that it could affect other races than white, but I’ve never seen them. \*\* How you figger albinism occurring across species has anything to do with it occurring across ethnic groups within a species? I have seen two albino Asians. They had yellow-white hair and light, almost Caucasian-like, skin tone. Don’t know about their eye color (or lack thereof), as one always wore tinted glasses and I never got a good look at the other’s. I could tell they were Asian, though, because they had Asian features, had Asian surnames, hung around other Asians, were from predominantly Asian neighborhoods, etc. (Okay, so that’s not overwhelming evidence they were Asian, but having not had the chance to ask them directly, that’s the best I can do.) Obligatory helpful link: [http://www.albinism.org/report.html](http://www.albinism.org/report.html) Upon preview-- darn it, **DDG**! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![vivian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3e96dc/32.png) [@vivian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivian)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mulatto-and-albino/84049/5 "2001-09-27T15:02:09Z")
i know of one albino black person. how could i tell? he has the nappy black hair, which actually happens to be blond and dreadlocked. he also has the black features as i do. For the longest time i thought he was a white guy…until i REALLY looked at him. ---
**Author:** ![slackergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@slackergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slackergirl)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mulatto-and-albino/84049/6 "2001-09-27T15:13:27Z")
I have a very good friend who is a mulatto albino. He’s from Puerto Rico. He does look a bit odd. It’s nearly impossible to guess what his ethnic background is without the cues from skin and hair color. It is hereditary. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-mulatto-and-albino/84049/7 "2001-09-27T16:31:55Z")
The highest rate of albinism in the world occurs in the Kuna Indians of Panama, the “White Indians of Darien.” I have heard the rate quoted as one in 200, and certainly albinos are very commonly seen among them. They are in a sense partial albinos, having pale yellow hair (not pure white) and I believe blue, not pink, eyes. I have seen several albino Africans, in both Cameroon and Gabon. I expect that albinism occurs to some extent in all human populations.