About

Dr. Kate Clifford Larson is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal best-selling author of four critically acclaimed biographies: Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer; Bound for the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero; Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter; and The Assassin's Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln. After earning BA and MA degrees from Simmons University and an MBA from Northeastern University, Larson earned a doctorate in American History at the University of New Hampshire, specializing in 19th and 20th century U.S. Women's and African American history. An award-winning consultant, Larson has worked on feature film scripts—including Focus Features' Harriet starring prize-winning Cynthia Erivo, and Robert Redford's The Conspirator—documentaries, museum exhibits, curriculum guides, public history and tourism initiatives, and she appears frequently on local, national, and international media outlets. Dr. Larson is also a Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center Scholar alumna. Her latest book project, Ethel and Bobby: Inside the Marriage That Shaped a Nation will be published by Little, Brown in 2027.

Featured Work

Ethel and Bobby: Inside the Marriage That Shaped a Nation

Little, Brown, forthcoming 2027

A portrait of one of the most consequential partnerships in US history, drawing on exclusive interviews and newly available archival resources to reveal how Ethel Kennedy shaped and influenced the progressive vision and work of her husband, Robert F. Kennedy, and shaped our nation in turn.

Other Works

  • Harriet Tubman: A Reference Guide to Her Life and Works

    Rowman & Littlefield, 2022

  • Walk With Me: A Biography of Fannie Lou Hamer.

    Oxford University Press, 2021

  • Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park Historic Resource Study

    National Park Service and Organization of American Historians, 2019

  • Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter

    Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2015

  • The Assassin’s Accomplice: Mary Surratt and the Plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln

    Basic Books, 2008

  • Bound For the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero

    Ballantine/One World, 2003

Awards and Recognition

  • Mass Book Award, Nonfiction, for Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter. Massachusetts Center for the Book, Boston, October 2016.
  • Writer-in-Residence, Furman College, May 2023
  • Visiting Scholar, Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University. 2020-2022
  • Team Award, Third Place, 2020 National Association of Interpretation Interpretive Media Award for “Harriet Tubman: Soldier of Freedom.”
  • Team Award, First Place, 2018 National Association of Interpretation Digital Media Awards for the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Byway, an All-American Road.
  • Harriet Tubman Freedom Award, 1st Annual Harriet Tubman Freedom Festival, Auburn, NY. 2017
  • Wilbur H. Siebert Award, National Park Service Network to Freedom Program, for outstanding research on Harriet Tubman, her community, and the Underground Railroad. September 2015
  • Commendation, South Caroline House of Representatives Resolution, Bill 4234, for “significant work” on the life of Harriet Tubman. March 2013.
  • Education Excellence Award 2007, Maryland Historical Trust. For the Finding a Way to Freedom Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Tour, Dorchester and Caroline counties, Maryland.
  • Doctor of Philosophy, American History – May 2003 Doctor of Humane Letters, Honor Causa – May 2016 University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH.