Amanda and Michael Biggs, from Birmingham, England, had been married for more than a decade when their twins were ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ through ᴀʀᴛɪꜰɪᴄɪᴀʟ ɪɴsᴇᴍɪɴᴀᴛɪᴏɴ. Since Amanda is white and her husband Michael is of Jamaican descent, they expected that they might have mixed-race children, but even they were not prepared for this possibility.
Marcia Millie Madge and Millie Marcia Madge Biggs were born on July 3, 2006, and they had decidedly different personalities from the start. Millie was shy, while her sister was a bit braver and friendlier.
But there were significant differences not only in their nature. The babies were born with completely different skin colors, although this did not become apparent until a few months later.
While Marcia’s hair and complexion were lighter, her sister’s skin tone was much darker. According to the mother, as the girls grew up, many people doubted that they were really related, recalling: “Even their kindergarten teachers didn’t want to believe that they were siblings.”
The case of girls is very rare, but not at all impossible. Amanda says that her children are a “one in a million miracle”.
The mother claims that, despite the initial skepticism, they received overwhelmingly positive feedback, and although there are people who stare at them, this is mostly just out of simple curiosity.
“As time went on, people only saw beauty in them,” said Amanda.
The mother said she did not experience ʀᴀᴄɪsᴍ towards her daughters, but rather just curiosity and frequent questioning.
According to scientists, “ʀᴀᴄᴇ” is a much more socially defined concept, and we can talk about a spectrum rather than well-defined and separable categories.
“Visible differences between different peoples are ᴀᴄᴄɪᴅᴇɴᴛs of history,” explained geneticist Alicia Martin.
Marcia and Millie, who have become adults in the meantime, also say that they have not faced ʀᴀᴄɪsᴍ. According to the girls’ father, the situation is much better today than it was before.
In 2015, another set of twins shared a similar story. Born in Gloucester, Lucy and Maria Aylmer say they too have had to answer many doubters’ questions throughout their lives. And, Maria, who was born with darker skin, also recalled that when she was younger, she envied her brother’s lighter skin and straight hair. He has curly hair, which he really hated.
And Lucy said that she was often ᴛᴇᴀsᴇᴅ at school, told that her parents must have adopted her, and mocked as a ghost because of her light skin color.
