David Matthews (author)

David Matthews (born November 8, 1967) is an American author and screenwriter. Matthews is of African American and Jewish descent. His memoir Ace of Spades recounts growing up in the inner city of Baltimore, Maryland as a biracial child who could pass for white.

David Matthews

Matthews' Jewish mother was schizophrenic and left his father when Matthews was only a few months old. As a result, Matthews was raised by his father, Ralph Matthews, Jr., an African American journalist who counted Malcolm X and James Baldwin among his friends. The Matthews family lived in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., but in 1977 moved next to the segregated Bolton Hill area of Baltimore, a tiny enclave of rich, white families, which was surrounded by the primarily black ghetto of west Baltimore. He describes himself as not initially fitting in with either the black or white children in his public elementary school, sparking his decision to "pass" as white.[1] Matthews attended Baltimore City College High School where he attempted to "pass" as not only white, but Jewish. Lacking any cultural knowledge of Jewish life, Matthews was not accepted as a Jew and continued to search for an identity. Matthews' first book, Ace of Spades details this search, and is presented in a somewhat acerbic coming-of-age literary style.[2]

Matthews currently resides in New York City and Los Angeles.