bestseller lists and was translated into several languages. Today, the book is
Mark Mathabane touched the hearts of million with his sensational
Autobiography Kaffir Boy. Telling the true story of his coming of age under apartheid
in South Africa, the book made the New York Times & Washington Post
bestseller lists and was translated into several languages. Today,
the book is
used in classrooms across the U.S.
Born of destitute $10-week wage his family could not pay the rent for their shack
or put food on the table. Mathabane spent the first eighteen years of his life as the
eldest of seven children in a one-square mile ghetto that was a home to more
than 200,000 blacks. Tennis was Mathabane’s passport to freedom. In 1978,
with the help of 1972 Wimbledon champion Stan Smith, Mathabane left
South Africa to attend an American university on scholarship. After about two years in college
he got marred and now he lives with his extended family in North Carolina.
He has appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, “Today”, CNN’s,
“Sonya Live”, “Nightwatch”, Larry King”, & numerous TV & radio
programs across the country. His provocative articles have appeared in The
New York Times, Newsday & U.S. News & World Report. A sought after
lecturer, he was nominated for 1993 Speaker Of the Year by the National
Association for Campus Activities. In September 1997, Mark completed a
one-year assignment as a White House Fellow at the Department of
Education in Washington, D.C., where he helped implement several
education initiatives.