1. Kaffir Boy
By Mark Mathabane

2. None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin
None of us is responsible for the complexion of his skin. This fact of nature offers no clue to the character or quality of the person underneath. --- Marian Anderson

3. Facts about Mark Mathabane
Born on October 8, 1960 in Alexandra, South Africa
Birth name is Johannes Mathabane
Father’s name was Jackson Mathabane
Mother’s Name was Magdalene Mathabane
Father emigrated from the tribal reserves in South Africa to Alexandra looking for work
Mother forced him to go to school, even though his father beat her for it
His grandmother took him to work (a white person’s house) one day, and this changed his life
He learned how to play tennis, and was the first black person from South Africa to play in an International tournament.
He came to America in 1978 on a tennis scholarship.

4. Growing up in Alexandra
Alexandra was a one-square-mile ghetto outside of Johannesburg.
Over 150,000 people lived in Alexandra in the 1960’s
Johannes’ house was a 15 by 15 square shack
Johannes and his six siblings slept under the kitchen table on cardboard until he was 10.
Currently, the township covers 3.1 square miles, has 470,000 people, and over 20,000 shacks.

5. The book Kaffir Boy
Kaffir is of Arabic origin, means infidel, and is the equivalent of the term nigger in America
The book was published in 1986 in America
Johannes changed his first name to Mark to protect his family still in South Africa
Oprah read the book and had Mark and his family on her show to promote the book in 1986.
It is on the list of the most banned books in the U.S.

6. Mark ‘s Family
Married Gail in 1987; wrote a book called Love in Black and White about inter-racial marriages
Has three children: Bianca, Nathan, and Stanley
Moved from Kernersville, NC to Portland, Oregon in 2004