World’s First Set of Black/White Twins


Rare twins have become famous after being born in Germany last week with one twin being Black and the other being White.

The rare twins Leo and Ryan were born to Florence and Stephen Gerth, a West African woman and a West German man. Leo, described as the more “spirited” one looks more like his father, while laid-back Ryan looks much like his darker mother.

The twins were born at the Sana Hospital in Lichtenberg, Germany, causing a raucous at the clinic due to their rare occurrence.

Twins born with two different colors happens to one-of-a-million twin births, according to reports.

Florence, 35, and Stephen Gerth, 40, said that the most important part of the births was not their color, but that they are healthy


24 responses to “World’s First Set of Black/White Twins”

  1. This is not the first set. The first set was born in the UK. They actually look white and black…except I think they have two white parents….maybe there was some in vitro…or something.

  2. The first set was born in Europe many years ago. It was thought the mother had been with a black man. Her husband was white.

  3. The first one just looks to have a fairer complexion… he doesn’t look white.. *shrugs*

    ~Peace~
    Sis. Kia

  4. On The Story on the First Set of Black and white twins
    By LUCY LAING, Daily Mail
    Last updated at 08:54 02 March 2006

    Kylie with partner Remi and daughters Remee and Kian
    When Kylie Hodgson gave birth to twin daughters by caesarean section, she was just relieved that they had arrived safely.

    It was only when the midwife handed them over for her to hold that she noticed the difference between them.

    Remee, who weighed 5lb 15oz, was blonde and fair skinned. Her sister Kian, born a minute later weighing 6lb, was black.

    ‘Our two gorgeous little girls’

    “It was a shock when I realised that my twins were two different colours,” said Kylie, 19. “But it doesn’t matter to us – they are just our two gorgeous little girls.”

    The amazing conception happened after two eggs were fertilised at the same time in the womb.

    Both Kylie and her partner Remi Horder, 17, are of mixed race. Their mothers are both white and their fathers are black.

    According to the Multiple Births Foundation, baby Kian must have inherited the black genes from both sides of the family, whilst Remee inherited the white ones.

    Kylie, from Nottingham, discovered she was pregnant in the summer of 2004 and a scan at the Queen’s Medical Centre revealed that twins were on the way.

    “It was a shock at first to discover I was expecting as we hadn’t been trying for a family,” she said I had my 14-week scan and the sonographer ran the scanner over my stomach and announced that I was carrying twins.

    “We couldn’t believe it. Neither of us could take our eyes off the scanner – you could just see two of everything, even the outline of their little noses. We were both overwhelmed.”

    The twins were born by caesarean in April last year because one of the girls was lying in an awkward position in the womb.

    “I didn’t see them at first,” added their mother. “They were both whisked away to be checked over and then the midwife came back and placed them both in my arms.

    “I noticed that both of them had beautiful blue eyes, but whilst Remee was blonde, Kian’s hair was black and she had darker skin.

    “It seemed strange, but I was feeling so ill that I didn’t really take it in at that stage.”

    The next day she mentioned the colour difference to her mother, who told her that Remee’s skin would darken as she grew older.

    But as the weeks passed, Remee became lighter still while Kian went darker. And while Remee’s eyes stayed blue, Kian’s turned brown.

    “There are some similarities between them,” said their mother. “They both love apples and grapes, and their favourite television programme is Teletubbies.

    “If they haven’t seen each other for a few hours, they are so pleased to see each other and will hold out their arms, wanting to hug each other. And their smiles just light up their faces.

    “I’ll explain it all to them when they get older about why they look so different.”

    Million to one odds

    The odds against of a mixed race couple having twins of dramatically different colour are a million to one.

    Skin colour is believed to be determined by up to seven different genes working together.

    If a woman is of mixed race, her eggs will usually contain a mixture of genes coding for both black and white skin.

    Similarly, a man of mixed race will have a variety of different genes in his sperm. When these eggs and sperm come together, they will create a baby of mixed race.

    But, very occasionally, the egg or sperm might contain genes coding for one skin colour. If both the egg and sperm contain all white genes, the baby will be white. And if both contain just the versions necessary for black skin, the baby will be black.

    For a mixed-race couple, the odds of either of these scenarios is around 100 to one. But both scenarios can occur at the same time if the woman conceives non-identical twins, another 100 to one chance.

    This involves two eggs being fertilised by two sperm at the same time, which also has odds of around 100 to one.

    If a sperm containing all-white genes fuses with a similar egg and a sperm coding for purely black skin fuses with a similar egg, two babies of dramatically different colours will be born.

    The odds of this happening are 100 x 100 x 100 – a million to one.

  5. First of all the baby is not crying because it’s spirited it’s crying because the brother has that beautiful DARKER complexion. The Media kills me trying to always depict white with being positive, “Leo described as being more spirited looks like his father, while laid back Ryan looks like his Darker Mother. Why did they have to write darker mother, this is what I’m talking about, we know she’s darker if the father is white that was not necessary. And Laid back, you have to watch those people they try to always associate our black men as been lazy, YES, I have a problem with this article. And for the record, They wish that Baby was white, That baby is black, a white baby would never look that good. They know their babies don’t even come close to that beautiful. Leo looks like a bi-racial and Ryan looks like a beautiful Black baby, like always. I would love to keep up with them to see how their child hood plays out. Blacks is more dominant I don’t care if the baby came out pure white when AFrica is your first civilization everyone is BLACK, Know your history and stop printing this B.S

  6. Hello all!

    I just wanted to clear up that these are NOT the world’s FIRST ever black/white twins. Approximately 20+ years ago (sometime in the 80s) a couple featured in JET Magazine also gave birth to a set black/white twins, which means they should possibly be in their late 20s. I have been looking for JET or someone to follow up on this story, but definitely check this story out. Just thought I’d school you all little bit.

  7. This is silly. This isn’t the first such occurrence; it’s happened before.

    Still, the fact is this: these are dizygotic twins — produced from two, separate eggs. They’re twins because they have the same birth parents and are the product of the same pregnancy. If one child is Black, then so is the other. They’re no different from other siblings born from separate pregnancies. We wouldn’t look at a fair-skinned, straight-haired child and then their older/younger sibling with darker skin and nappy hair and say, “Ooh. The first one is White, and the second one is Black!”

    That’s utter hogwash. Lineage/bloodline is one of the primary determinants of “race.” These twins (obviously) share the same lineage; therefore, they cannot be of different ethnicities.

    Please. Stop parroting the mindless sensationalism of the idiot-press, people. THINK!

    Peace.

  8. They won’t be considered different races after a month or two. My little chocolate daughter looked like Leo when we first brought her home and she is now about Ryan’s complexion.

  9. More propaganda, as far as I’m concerned. Being light doesn’t make a person white – just ask all the light skinned and/or mixed Black people who were chased, terrorized, and murdered throughout the history of the United States. In the case of these children, their mother is a person of colour, therefore these children are people of colour. Race is a superficial construct. Culture is significant, and should superficially based [or appearance based] discrimination be absent, discrimination on the basis of cultural background is a factor for Black people even if their skin is lighter than average, or they have light hair or light eye colour. A child born to a Black mother is not white, and as this child grows up and experiences discrimination based on nothing more than having a Black mother, he will indeed be Black. Case closed.

  10. There is a lady on Big Brother 10 who is Black and married to a white man and has a set of twins. One looks Black and the other looks white. They showed them as they were introducing her on the show. She is from Spring TX, which, I believe is outside of Houston….

  11. Wonder if their lives will be followed to see if they turn out anything like Dr. Michael Eric Dyson and his younger “darker” brother….

  12. Looks like 2 mixed babies of different shades. When the lighter baby start growing B-to-Bs, then you’ll be assurred that he is not white. This article in certainly among the most ridiculous ever published on this site. There’s no such thing as black and white babies born of the same parents’ physiology, despite how their looks turn out.

  13. These twins are definitely not the first black and white twins. I remember bringing in a current events article to school and it featured twin girls from the UK, one white, one black. This was in the 1980’s. I have been hoping someone would do a follow-up article on them, but instead, we have others thinking they are the first. Someone should do better research before labeling something to be “the first”. If the real first black and white twins are anywhere around, please let us know how you are doing and proclaim your true title.

  14. My grandsons were born April 13, 1988 at Washington Hospital Center. They were featured in Jet Magazine approximately 3 months later. The doctor that delivered them said, "White male's scrotum is always red and the black male's scrotum is always black." We all know that "black" people come in all shades. My "white" grandson is just as black as his brother. The white twin still looks white with red hair and his eyes (depending on the light) are from brown to blue.

  15. Looks like the lighter toned baby will be dark in a few weeks..what is this FOOLISHLY written article talking about. That does not look like a white baby!!Its funny how a couple in Britain had two sets of different toned skins and the darker twins are his complexion..hmm..This world is confused..lol

  16. Yea I agree with everybody that this is not the world's first set of different hued twins..this happens alot where I'm from. I should be on the news…lol I come from a mixed race fam..parents of diffrent ethnic backgrounds..my siblings and I are four different complexions..what is the big deal.

  17. World’s First Set!?!?!? Does their world end at their front door step. My wife and I had black and white twins in 1997. And there were sets long before us. I saw a documentary on the BBC around 1999, talking to mixed-race twins that were in their 20’s & 30’s. Talking about what it was like to grow up like that in 70’s/80’s Britain. (Not flipping easy, I’m sure!).

    My point being…why is it all of a sudden such a spectacle to have mixed twins?
    And I notice it’s a bigger deal in Britain and Europe than it is in North America. No-one made a fuss when ours were born. Everyone was just happy that the boys were healthy. This media frenzy around mixed twins makes me want to hurl.

    And P.S., Just to mix it up a bit. We had a third boy in 2002 that’s even lighter than the lighter twin. Three kids, three completely different skin tones.

  18. You all are very sick black jealous people striving for notice. By the way im black and and there is no racial talk here. You guys are always full of complains about past history. I have’nt come accross a non crazy african american or non african-african(as in from africa). Its not this couples fault that they are being blessed and happy and were noticed. You all can bring all your nonsence stories about ur this…and that… the first black/white whatever… but it is not going to change the fact that has already been made. sorry to break this to you; but guys, you need to face reality!!!!!.

  19. Beautiful! I want the same: a multicolor family! 🙂
    Let’s build a beautiful futur together, not looking after a durty past.
    /love to peacefull people

  20. My brothers are black and white twins and they are now 44yrs old and have done a documentary and i was on it too as im darker than my twin sister and their are older black n white twin sisters in their in their 50s now and 20 odd sets in uk and we are two if themu

  21. Bigdaddy of 3 that was me and my brothers that were in that documentary that u were talking about and my brothers renacted the scenes using my nephew and a friends son

  22. i have a set of twins that one is black and one white i am just wondering how rare it is been trying to find out and keep finding dead ends, if any one can help me figure this out that would be amazing my boys are 7 now. thanks so much

  23. My family had the 1st set in the US…Dora Spells (black) & Sally Mitchell (white) were born in 1910 in Mississippi…update your title please! My Aunt Sally was the reason they had to leave Mississippi and change their last name from Simmons to Monger!

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