It comes in two broad varieties — eumelanin, which is responsible for the black and brown colours, and pheomelanin, which lends the skin and hair yellow to reddish hues.
Over the course of generations, humans living at the Sun-saturated latitudes in Africa adapted to have a higher melanin production threshold and more eumelanin, giving skin a darker tone.
There's eumelanin, which gives rise to a range of brown skin tones, as well as black, brown, and blond hair, and pheomelanin, which causes the reddish browns of freckles and red hair.