Do Black Bears look brown?

Yes, they can appear with a cinnamon brown coat, along with varying shades of black, brownish black, and even smoky dark gray. Mostly they are black, but these variations can occur. Unless you in in a range where the Brown and Black bears overlap, then you might be misidentifying a grizzely for a black bear.

National Geographic has an excellent article on the so-called black bear. Yes, they are actually many different shades.

Black bears often appear various shades of brown. You didn’t mention where you are, but if you are in the US lower 48 and not in the Yellowstone area, a brown colored bear is unlikely to be a grizzly. They are occasionally seen in northern Washington and Montana.

Yes

When I was on the glacier tour in Alaska we saw a blue black bear. It was actually blue-grey.

Black bears occasionally travel the river trails here in my neck o’ the woods of Northern Ca. but usually they are more common a few thousand feet higher in elevation. However, I live in major Mountain lion territory and lions too can range from a light, tawny golden color, to a deeper reddish gold to an agouti-ish dark gray.

I think if I remember correctly there are very few if any animals that are actually black haired. What we perceive as black is really a very dark brown, so it would stand to reason that the “black bear” would also come in a variety of brown shades.

@tacres Yes, this is very true with horses, true “black” is often seal brown or dark black bay.
Welcome to fluther! :-)