I suffer from high blood pressure, am a bit prone to anger, and own lots of guns. For the safety of myself and others I have avoided learning about the reconstruction period. Now that I am 60 do you think it would be safe or should I continue to maintain my ignorance?
You ask historians whether you should study history? I'd answer yes regardless of the circumstances.
You might try Eric Foner's Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 to start. It's been around for a while, but still an awfully good synthesis of the historiography.
Yes please do, it does not matter if you dislike or are enraged by what you may see, what you'll get out of it is easily worth the cost.
Knowledge of an entirely different perspective from the one you grew up with can be humbling, enlightening and awe-inspiring, the least of all enraging or negative.
“It's right to learn, even from the enemy.” ― Ovid