When Catherine was three years old, the family moved to Leeds, Yorkshire, and she grew up there in a non-conformist household; both parents were "radical Labour".

She found herself out of place among the "stylish, metropolitan types" and bewildered by the emphasis on the multidisciplinary syllabus at Sussex.

[3] In 1970, Hall attended the UK's first National Women's Liberation Conference at Ruskin College, Oxford.

[1] She was appointed Professor of Modern British Social and Cultural History University College London (UCL) in 1998, and was Principal Investigator of the "Legacies of British Slave Ownership" and "Structure and Significance of British-Caribbean Slave Ownership, 1763–1833" research projects.

[3][12] Stuart was Jamaican, and with mixed-race children, Catherine was aware of the legacy of British colonialism before commencing her academic work on the topic.