Not that individuals weren't racist, but no, America at large was NOT racist, certainly not in the sixties.
Oh, it was very racist in the sixties.
I arrived in USA in 1962 (as a grad student at Yale). And the racism stood out like a sore thumb.
It's true that many Americans didn't notice. The racism was so common place, that they just took it as normal. But to me, arriving from Australia, it was very obvious.
Fundamentalism - the anti-American, anti-Christian branch of American Christianity