See now whenever I read how Juilin's "carved from dark wood" I think mahogany, and when I think of mahogany, I end up thinking of Ron Burgundy...

 

...AAannndd down the hill it goes from there.

The Seachant Blood are decendents of Hawkwings' son and relatives who crossed the Ocean, but they also have the blood of native Seanchan who were conquered by Luther. So just because some of them are black or dark skinned does not mean that Hawkwing himself was. Tuon, and other members of the blood who have darker skin most likely inherited their skin color from their Seachan side and not from Hawkwings' bloodline.

I wonder how they even maintain differences in skin tones in Seanchan though. In the main continent it seems that those are characteristic of each nation and stay more or less the same within the same people, so it's understandable. But in Seanchan? There doesn't seem to be any social difference at all between skin tones that would explain why there isn't more mixing. And nothing in what we read indicates that it is even considered a difference at all. Shouldn't they all be mixed by now then?

 

On topic, I don't think Hawkwing was black. But I just have to say it would have been very cool if he was. There aren't enough important black characters in fantasy for my taste.