I remember learning tid-bits of this stuff in middle and high school, but clearly did not delve too deep into details, because I don't think the school systems want us to know how controversial our history is. I have always loved studying history, but watching the videos on Carlisle Indian Preservation and Japanese Americans being moved to military zones continues to prove that so many aspects of our nation's history were based on racism and separating those who are "different." I am in the medical field and learning about J Marion Sims disgusted me. My heart hurt for Anarcha. Can you imagine? 30 procedures before "getting it right." Our nation has made some progress in certain areas of racism, but then continues to move backwards in other areas. We have a long way to go to provide justice for everyone.
As a Canadian, I thought I knew about the origins of racism on this continent, but was decidedly challenged about my lack of knowledge in a few areas: the extent of after-the-fact justification for slavery (race theory) and the truth of the idea of "whiteness" as being such a comparatively recent construct. I knew of the efforts by governments to assimilate Indigenous children: in Canada, the last residential school only closed in 1996, and the "sixties scoop" - removal of Indigenous children from their families, to become wards of the state or adopted into non-Indigenous homes - still continues today. But the pervasiveness of these ideas about race shapes us all on an unconscious level; education about this is so important.