It was, in a way, much easier to get along back in the 1970s. You didn't have to walk on eggshells in case you were accidentally "offending" someone.
In a way, though, society wasn't as advanced as it is now. Racial prejudice was tolerated. If a black person got set upon by a gang of white people, it was seen as being "status-quo," rather than the big news item it would be today. That would never have made the news in the 1970s.