The groups are:
- Presidential Reconstruction - how the president (Andrew Johnson) and other key national figures related to the president were involved in the years after the Civil War. That might include cabinet members, Democrats and moderate Republicans in the north, freedmen under black codes, and former Confederate army members.
- Congressional Reconstruction - Members of Johnson's cabinet and radical Republicans such as Thaddeus Stevens who wanted complete reconstruction of the south.
- Common people during reconstruction - particularly in the south, white and black, freemen and freedmen, missionaries, etc.
- Wild West - Indian chiefs and generals. Black Kettle, Red Cloud, Chief Joseph, Sitting Bull, Kit Carson, George Hearst, and George Custer.
- Wild West- common folks: businessmen, miners, railroad workers, farmers, cowboys, gun slingers, women (of good or ill repute), entertainers.
It will be very helpful, especially for primary documents, to start with the LibGuide at:
http://guides.gpc.edu/HIST2112Simson
There are two good reference works noted on the LibGuide--both found at Call number E668. That will give some background to those just beginning their inquiry. Discover GALILEO also has a nice research starter on Reconstruction.
More information: Feel free to use open web searching to find repositories of information needed by students. For instance, on the topic of missionary involvement in reconstruction south, check the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian Historical sites related to their mission societies.
