There are limited studies, and no GWAS studies, on tanning response, the stimulation of skin pigmentation from ultraviolet radiation, in African populations. The Tishkoff Lab has collected phenotypic data on skin pigmentation and genetic data for 3498 Africans across 26 ethnolinguistic (population) groups. We hypothesize that the Melanin Index difference between the upper inner arm pigmentation and outer forearm pigmentation represents the skin’s tendency to tan, and we investigate the correlation of Melanin Index (MI) Difference with genetic and non-genetic factors. 12 population groups showed statistically significant differences in MI Difference values: Chabu, Sandawe, Central West Africa Bantoid, Cushitic, Fulani, Hadza, Kx, Omotic, Eastern-Sudanic, Rhg, Tuu, Khoe-Kwadi. Among quantitative variables analyzed, the Upper Inner Arm Melanin Index, Latitude, Age, and some proportions of Inferred Populations had statistically significant correlations with MI Difference. Genetic association analyses were run on 42 SNPs that were previously identified to have correlations with tanning response in cohorts of European ancestry. In this African ancestry cohort, two SNPs resulted in a significant effect size and the same direction as the effect of the original study. Our analyses support both genetic and non-genetic correlations with Melanin Index Difference in African populations. Our results suggest that the genetic variants contributing to tanning response may largely differ between populations of diverse backgrounds. We plan to conduct a Genome-wide Association Study on tanning response in this cohort, controlling for shared genetic ancestry and environmental factors such as latitude and altitude.