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National Park Service surveying Reconstruction sites

FILE - In this Feb. 12, 2015, file photograph, an historical marker is seen outlining some of the history of the Liberty Hill community in North Charleston, S.C. The community dates to the Reconstruction era. The National Park Service has announced a one-year study to be completed in 2016 surveying sites of national importance to the Reconstruction era that could be nominated as national historic landmarks. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith, File) FILE - In this Feb. 12, 2015, file photograph, an historical marker is seen outlining some of the history of the Liberty Hill community in North Charleston, S.C. The community dates to the Reconstruction era. The National Park Service has announced a one-year study to be completed in 2016 surveying sites of national importance to the Reconstruction era that could be nominated as national historic landmarks. (AP Photo/Bruce Smith, File)

By Associated Press May 25, 2015 1 min read

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Now that its observance of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is over, the National Park Service is turning its attention to the Reconstruction era after the war.

The agency is embarking on a yearlong study to inventory sites throughout the South and beyond that are important to telling the story of Reconstruction.

During that time, 4 million former slaves were beginning new lives as free people, and there was some backlash from white southerners dealing with the defeat of the Confederacy.

Chief historian Robert Sutton of the National Park Service says the agency will identify sites that are nationally important to the Reconstruction story and some will be nominated for designation as national historic landmarks.