Society for Women and the Civil War
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| Society for Women and the Civil War, Inc. Box #9066 8345 NW 66th St. Miami, FL 33166 (804) 244-1864 www.swcw.org |
| "The Union's Secret Weapon: Harriet Tubman's Military Career" 2001 |
Catherine Clinton
Catherine Clinton was born in Seattle on April 5, 1952. She was raised in Kansas City, Missouri from the age of two and attended the Sunset
Hill School for Girls (now Pembroke Hill School), graduating in 1969. She graduated from Harvard University (Lowell House) with a joint degree
in Sociology and Afro-American Studies in 1973. Her senior honors thesis was on the role of the plantation mistress in the Old South. She won
the Isobel Briggs Travelling Fellowship from Radcliffe College and went to England. She received her M.A. in American Studies from the
University of Sussex in 1974, completing her thesis on Fanny Kemble.
After a detour as an instructor at the University of Benghazi in the Libyan Arab Republic, she returned to the United States to attend
Princeton University. She entered the Ph.D. program in history at Princeton University in 1975 and left to take a job at Union College in 1979.
She received her doctorate in history from Princeton in 1980, completing her dissertation on the role of the plantation mistress from
1780-1835 under the direction of James M. McPherson.
In 1982 she married New York City architect Daniel Lee Colbert. In 1983 she left Union College to take a job in the history department at
Harvard University, the same year that she published her first book: The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South. She and her
husband moved to Winchester, Massachusetts. In 1984 her second book, The Other Civil War: American Women in the Nineteenth Century,
appeared.
In 1988 she left the history department at Harvard to teach in the Department of American Studies at Brandeis University. During this period,
she became interested in children's education and became a consultant and writer for secondary school social studies texts. In 1990 she
returned Harvard to teach in the Department of Afro-American Studies. In the fall of 1993, she left Harvard to teach African-American
literature in the Department of English at Brown University, where she taught for one semester.
In 1994 she decided to concentrate on writing full time to give her the flexibility to spend more time with her young children. She has written,
edited, co-authored or co-edited over a dozen books to date. In 1993 she became interested in screenwriting and sold several historical
projects for television, although none, to date, have been produced. She has written for the History Channel, consulted on projects for
WGBH and still has screen projects in development. During this period, she also became involved in writing children's books, and has
concentrated on non-fiction books for kids.
In the fall of 1997 she held the Douglas Southall Freeman Visiting Chair of History at the University of Richmond, and then in the fall of 1998
was the Lewis Jones Visiting Chair of History at Wofford College, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. From the fall of 1999 until May 2001 she
holds the Weissman Visiting Chair of History at Baruch College, City University of New York.
In the fall of 2000, she published two books on Fanny Kemble, a topic that has engaged her interest for more than half her life. For the
academic year 2001-2002 she will hold the Mark Clark Chair of History at the Citadel, in Charleston, South Carolina.
Catherine Clinton was born in Seattle on April 5, 1952. She was raised in Kansas City, Missouri from the age of two and attended the Sunset
Hill School for Girls (now Pembroke Hill School), graduating in 1969. She graduated from Harvard University (Lowell House) with a joint degree
in Sociology and Afro-American Studies in 1973. Her senior honors thesis was on the role of the plantation mistress in the Old South. She won
the Isobel Briggs Travelling Fellowship from Radcliffe College and went to England. She received her M.A. in American Studies from the
University of Sussex in 1974, completing her thesis on Fanny Kemble.
After a detour as an instructor at the University of Benghazi in the Libyan Arab Republic, she returned to the United States to attend
Princeton University. She entered the Ph.D. program in history at Princeton University in 1975 and left to take a job at Union College in 1979.
She received her doctorate in history from Princeton in 1980, completing her dissertation on the role of the plantation mistress from
1780-1835 under the direction of James M. McPherson.
In 1982 she married New York City architect Daniel Lee Colbert. In 1983 she left Union College to take a job in the history department at
Harvard University, the same year that she published her first book: The Plantation Mistress: Woman's World in the Old South. She and her
husband moved to Winchester, Massachusetts. In 1984 her second book, The Other Civil War: American Women in the Nineteenth Century,
appeared.
In 1988 she left the history department at Harvard to teach in the Department of American Studies at Brandeis University. During this period,
she became interested in children's education and became a consultant and writer for secondary school social studies texts. In 1990 she
returned Harvard to teach in the Department of Afro-American Studies. In the fall of 1993, she left Harvard to teach African-American
literature in the Department of English at Brown University, where she taught for one semester.
In 1994 she decided to concentrate on writing full time to give her the flexibility to spend more time with her young children. She has written,
edited, co-authored or co-edited over a dozen books to date. In 1993 she became interested in screenwriting and sold several historical
projects for television, although none, to date, have been produced. She has written for the History Channel, consulted on projects for
WGBH and still has screen projects in development. During this period, she also became involved in writing children's books, and has
concentrated on non-fiction books for kids.
In the fall of 1997 she held the Douglas Southall Freeman Visiting Chair of History at the University of Richmond, and then in the fall of 1998
was the Lewis Jones Visiting Chair of History at Wofford College, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. From the fall of 1999 until May 2001 she
holds the Weissman Visiting Chair of History at Baruch College, City University of New York.
In the fall of 2000, she published two books on Fanny Kemble, a topic that has engaged her interest for more than half her life. For the
academic year 2001-2002 she will hold the Mark Clark Chair of History at the Citadel, in Charleston, South Carolina.