Mark Mathabane

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Mark Mathabane (born Johannes Mathabane, October 18, 1960) is a tennis player, author, and lecturer.

He was born in Alexandra, Gauteng, South Africa. As he explains in his autobiographical book Kaffir Boy, Mathabane survived the oppressive environment of the apartheid system by excelling at tennis and managed to earn a tennis scholarship to a school in the United States, escaping the brutal conditions of his homeland.

In America, Mathabane changed his name from Johannes to Mark to avoid persecution by the South African government. Kaffir Boy helped to alert people in the United States to the cruelty of apartheid, especially after it was featured on Oprah Winfrey's talk show in 1985. Mathabane served as a White House Fellow under U.S. President Bill Clinton. Since the end of apartheid in South Africa, Mathabane continues to write books and articles that address human rights issues around the world. Until recently, Mathabane lived with his wife, Gail (b. Ernsberger), their three children (Bianca, b. 1989, Nathan b. 1991 and Stanley b. 1996), and his extended family in North Carolina. They relocated to Portland, OR in 2004.

[edit] Books

Kaffir Boy
Kaffir Boy in America: An Encounter with Apartheid
African Women: Three Generations
Love in Black and White
Ubuntu
Miriam's Song
Deadly Memory
The Last Liberal

During his time in Portland, OR, Mark spent time as a teacher at the Catlin Gabel School. At the school, he encouraged the student body to seek out cultural diversity, and not to limit their experiences to the sheltered environment of a predominantly upper-middle class private school.