Mark Mathabane spent his childhood living under apartheid in South Africa. But, unlike many, he was able to escape the devastating poverty and violence of a Johannesburg ghetto through the help of 1972 Wimbledon champion Stan Smith and a tennis scholarship to South Carolina’s Limestone College.
He will deliver a free, public lecture titled “Our Common Humanity” in Room 103 of Vanderbilt University’s Wilson Hall Thursday, Jan. 31, at 7 p.m. A book signing reception will precede the lecture at 6 p.m. in the lobby of Wilson Hall.
Mathabane published his story in 1986 in Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography – The True Story of a Black Youth’s Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa. The book made The New York Times and Washington Post bestseller lists and has been translated into several languages. He has also spent much of his life speaking out against apartheid and creating
awareness of the plight of black and “colored” South Africans.
He’s made appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today, CNN and NPR and his story has been featured in Time, Newsweek and People magazines.
Mathabane has also written the books Kaffir Boy in America, a sequel to his autobiography, and Love in Black and White, as well as, African Women: Three Generations.
The Vanderbilt Initiative for Scholarship and Global Engagement (VISAGE) is sponsoring Mathabane’s lecture with the university’s Center for Ethics, Office of the Dean of Students and Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center.
Media Contact: Princine Lewis, 615-322-NEWS
princine.l.lewis@vanderbilt.edu