Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa is Mark Mathabane

Mark Mathabane

Mark Mathabane is an author, lecturer, and a former collegiate tennis player and college professor.- Early life in South Africa :...

's 1986 autobiography

Autobiography

An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...

 about life under the South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

n apartheid regime. It focuses on the brutality of the apartheid system and how he escaped from it, and from the township Alexandra

Alexandra, Gauteng

Alexandra or Alex for short, nicknamed Gomora is a township located in Gauteng province, South Africa. It is part of Johannesburg, close to the wealthy suburb of Sandton and is bounded by Wynberg on the west, Marlboro and Kelvin on the north, Kew, Lombardy West and Lombardy East on the south...

, to become a well-known tennis player.
He also depicted how the young black children dealt with racism

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

 and stereotypes. By embracing education he is able to rise out of despair and destituteness and make something of himself.

Plot summary

Mark Mathabane is born into a poverty-stricken family during the apartheid years. Throughout childhood, he witnesses and suffers from hunger, violence, and racial stereotypes, learning to hate and fear whites.
At his mother’s insistence, Mathabane starts school and learns to love it, rising to the top of his class in spite of frequent punishments due to his family’s late payments for school fees. He graduates from primary school with a scholarship that will pay for his secondary education.
Mathabane’s grandmother becomes a gardener for a kind white family and this introduces Mathabane to books and tennis, due to the Smiths sending books and even a tennis racket home with his grandmother for him. He learns English from these books, and begins to play tennis frequently, eventually befriending a black tennis player who trains him.
Mathabane joins the high school tennis team and begins to play in tournaments, unofficially sponsored by Wilfred Horn, owner of the Tennis Ranch. It is technically illegal for Mark to play there, but the law is ignored and he becomes comfortable with whites. Eventually renowned tennis player Stan Smith takes Mathabane under his wing when the two meet at a tournament. Stan pays for Mathabane to compete in tournaments and talks to his coach at the University of Southern California about Mathabane attending college in the states. The coach writes to colleges on his behalf and Mathabane earns a tennis scholarship to Limestone College and leaves for the U.S. in 1978.

Characters and important people

• Arthur Ashe
  Arthur Ashe
  Arthur Robert Ashe, Jr. was a professional tennis player, born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. During his career, he won three Grand Slam titles, putting him among the best ever from the United States...
  
   - an American tennis player who wins the Wimbledon tournament. His game play encourages Mathabane to become a tennis player.
• Mark Mathabane
  Mark Mathabane
  Mark Mathabane is an author, lecturer, and a former collegiate tennis player and college professor.- Early life in South Africa :...
  
   - The author and narrator of the book
• The Smiths – The white family who introduce Mathabane to books and tennis.
• Wilfred Horn – Owner of exclusive Tennis Ranch and unofficial sponsor of Mathabane.
• Stan Smith
  Stan Smith
  Stanley Roger "Stan" Smith is a former American tennis player and two time Grand Slam singles champion who also, with his partner Bob Lutz, formed one of the most successful doubles teams of all time. Together, they won many major titles all over the world...
  
   - Renowned tennis player who relocates Mathabane to the United States by finding a college who is willing to give the author a tennis scholarship.

Controversy

Kaffir Boy has been banned in a number of schools, including Cedar Crest High School

Cedar Crest High School

Cedar Crest High School is a public high school located in the suburbs of Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The school serves about 1,600 students in grades 9 to 12 in the Cornwall-Lebanon School District.-General information:...

, where the ban made headlines. The bans are due to a controversial scene involving child prostitution and sodomy, which some have referred to as “pornography,” sparking another headline defending the scene. While Mathabane wrote an article for the Washington Post stating that he would prefer it to be banned completely to being revised or censored, Mathabane has since authorized a revised version for use in such schools. The unrevised book is still used as high school reading material regardless of the controversial scenes.

Reception and awards

The book Kaffir Boy has won the prestigious Christopher Award

Christopher Award

The Christopher Award is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, motion pictures and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit"...

 for inspiring hope. The book reached number one on the Washington Post Bestseller’s List and number three on the New York Times Bestseller’s List. It has also been chosen by the American Library Association

American Library Association

The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....

for inclusion on the list of “Outstanding Books for the College-Bound and Life-Long Learners.”