The "Master" had the opportunity to sell, trade, or kill the enslaved, for retribution should one slave not obey.

[citation needed] The oral history interview project yielded an extraordinary set of 2,300 autobiographical documents known as the Slave Narrative Collection.

[citation needed] What emerged from these documents were pictures of living standards, the daily chores, and long days, along with stories of the good and bad "Master.

[citation needed] After the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free.

[citation needed] More than 2,000 slave narratives along with 500 photos are available online at the Library of Congress as part of the "Born in Slavery" project.