Even though Quetzalcoatl has been depicted as a bearded white man who came from Europe to civilize the Mesoamericans, I came across an interesting article that says he was dark skinned.
The article, published online titled Quetzalcoatl Negro (Black Quetzalcoatl) by Rosario Nava Román "Although this Quetzalcoatl was a man, he was revered as a god... The adornments with which he was worshipped were as follows: a miter on his head, with a plume of feathers known as 'quetzalli'... his face was dyed black, as was his entire body."
Bernardino de Sahagún (c. 1499-1590) was a missionary in what is now Mexico, starting in 1529. He wrote a History of New Spain (Mexico) and the famous Florentine Codex is a manuscript version of this history. The illustrations it includes, done by native artists depict Quetzalcoatl in the traditional way, with dark, black, skin.
Other manuscripts, like the Borgia, Vindobonensis and Nutall codex depict him with a black body.
Nava Román points out that other gods such as Tezcatlipoca, Tláloc, Ixtlilton, etc. are also portrayed with black body paint in those codex. The high priests, sacrifice, penitents and man-gods are all black skinned.
The practice was noted by Jerónimo de Mendieta (1525-1604) who in his Historia Eclesiástica Indiana written in 1595-96, described (see p.108 in Chapter 37) how the Kings were enthroned in Mexico, in Tezcuco and Tlacuba: "The first thing the high priest did was to dye the lord's entire body black with very black ink; he had prepared a swab made of cedar and willow branches and reed leaves, and—with the lord kneeling—he would sprinkle him four times with water from a vessel of holy (or cursed) water, greeting him with brief words; then he would dress him in a mantle painted with the heads and bones of the dead, and upon his head..." The dark skin tone caused by the dye gave them a god-like appearance and strenghtened the link between mortal king and gods.
Nava Román mentions how this practice continued during the colonial period, and cites plate number 15 in the codex known as Tira de Tepechpan which depicts the conqueror of Mexico, Hernán Cortés in black (it can be seen below, with the Spaniard, with black skin, on the left).
The author argues that the white, bearded man from across the Atlantic was an invention of the Spaniards to justify their conquest, erasing the real black-skinned gods of the natives and replacing them with the superior white caucasians.
As I have posted in the past, (see here and here for some examples), I do not believe that there is evidence of African black people in America in pre-Columbian times, so the dark-skinned Mexican gods are not African people or Olmecs.
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