TAMA, Iowa (KCRG) – President Joe Biden formally apologized to Native American tribes for the mistreatment of indigenous children who were often separated from their families and attended U.S. boarding schools.
One such school was in Toledo, where children of the Meskwaki tribe were forced to attend.
Students at Meskwaki High School in Tama watched Biden’s televised apology in their social studies class taught by Meskwaki tribe member Leah Slick-Driscoll.
“Around 973 children died in the boarding schools. Some were sent home, some were buried there on the school grounds,” Slick-Driscoll said.
Slick-Driscoll’s own grandmother was a student at one of the boarding schools. She said it’s important that students learn about Native American history that doesn’t always make it into history textbooks.
“To cut that out, for any student is a loss for any American student. But for indigenous students, it’s particularly harmful to marginalize their history and to put them in …