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There are a lot of ways an AA/CC baby could be darker than an AA/AA baby. For one, if you look at people in the AA community (and in Africa itself) you will see there is a huge range of skin color. If you have a very dark African or AA and a CC, their child could easily be much darker than an AA child from 2 AAs who are lighter skinned.
Also, given not only personal choices, but also the history of slavery in our country, there are many full AA people who do have CC in them as well through rape, etc.. Yes, this was long ago, but it can still come through with a lighter child than might be otherwise expected.
Your friend who has a blue eyed biracial child...there is some sort of CC in the AA parent in that case. A blue eyed child can only be born when BOTH parents carry the recessive blue eyed gene. Here's how it works (the basic version): you have 2 genes for eyes--you get one from you dad, one from your mom. If you get a 'blue eyed' gene from each of them, you will have blue eyes (or some variation--grey, green). If you get one blue eyed gene and one brown eyed gene, you will have brown eyes (100% of the time), as brown is the dominant gene. If you get 2 brown eyed genes, you will have brown eyes. In order for that child to have blue eyes, the AA parent must have passed on a blue eyed gene to the child. If the AA parent had brown eyes, then he must have had one brown eyed gene (dominant) and one blue eyed gene (recessive) and passed on the blue eyed gene. Black Africans do not have a blue eyed gene, which means somewhere along the line, probably from some time here in the U.S., there is CC in that person's line. So...even when someone has 2 AA parents, it doesn't mean there isn't CC in their history.
Our son is Ethiopian, and he is very light skinned. There are other adopted Ethiopian kids I know who are VERY dark. Huge variation by ethnic group. Same in many African nations. In Senegal the Pulaars are very light, the Wolofs are very dark, etc.
I think it's great to ask athe questions and to assess your own comfort level. I guess I'd just say be sure you are open to a very dark skinned child, even when specifying AA/CC child.
Good luck and welcome!!
Teranga
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