Review: The Secret Life of Bacon Tait, a White Slave Trader Married to a Free Woman of Color by Hank Trent

Title: The Secret Life of Bacon Tait, a White Slave Trader Married to a Free Woman of Color
Author: Hank Trent
Publisher: Louisiana State University Press
Publication Date: June 1, 2017
Edition: ebook
Genres:

• Nonfiction
• Civil War
• Slavery
• Slave Trade
• United States History

My Rating: 4 of 5 stars

The author chronicles the life of Bacon Tait, a white slave trader in Virginia in the decades prior to the Civil War. He lead a double life of slave trader, but was also married to a free woman of color. Together, they parented and raised children.

This book was of great interest to me, not only because of Mr. Tait's life and personality, but also because the book presents a profile of the culture and values of the time. I have always found the self-justification for the ownership of human beings such an insult to my conscience, and doubtless, I will never understand it. Nevertheless, I continue to find the subject interesting and maddening at the same time. I consider the research and detail that went into the writing of this book remarkable.