Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in socially based systems of racial classification in the Western world, the term "black" is used to describe persons who are perceived as dark-skinned compared to other populations. It is most commonly used for people of sub-Saharan African ancestry, Indigenous Australians and Melanesians, though it has been applied in many contexts to other groups, and is no indicator of any close ancestral relationship whatsoever. Indigenous African societies do not use the term black as a racial identity outside of influences brought by Western cultures.
Haratin women, a community of recent Sub-Saharan African origin residing in the Maghreb
An Ibenheren (Bella) woman
A Bantu Servant woman in Mogadishu (1882–1883)
Bilal ibn Ribah (pictured atop the Kaaba, Mecca) was a former Ethiopian slave and the first muezzin, ca. 630.
Dark skin is a type of human skin color that is rich in melanin pigments. People with dark skin are often referred to as "black people", although this usage can be ambiguous in some countries where it is also used to specifically refer to different ethnic groups or populations.
A woman with dark skin
Savannas in Africa are where most of the hominid evolution of dark skin may have taken place
Darkly pigmented skin
Rickets is a condition associated with dark skin.