When George berates Uncle Ward for moving back down south, Ward sarcastically suggests maybe he should move to a place that's safe, like Boston. At the time, Boston residents were in an uproar over a new desegregation act, requiring schools to bus in student minorities from other neighborhoods (and white students bused into other schools that had formerly been occupied predominantly by minorities) to achieve racial balance. Protests and riots resulted, and a few fatalities, before the uproar began to subside in 1976.
Ralph Hart's first series appearance.
"Uncle Tom" is a slur. Known as Black person who is overeager to win the approval of whites (as by obsequious behavior or uncritical acceptance of white values and goals). A person who is overly subservient to or cooperative with authority.