Three Saints legends from the 1980's are in Southampton today to hand out books on black footballers to schoolchildren.
It will perhaps be hard for the younger generation to take in, but when Danny Wallace made his debut for Saints in 1980 he was one of the first black players to play first team football for the club.
Indeed the first black face did not appear in a team photo till 1976 when to parade the FA Cup Saints did a full line up including apprentices and Tony Seally and Farzand Ali were included.
Most teams did not include black players at this time despite the fact that there had been the likes of Cyde Best for West Ham for at least half a dozen years by then.
Indeed it would be Sealy himself who would be the first black player to play in the football league for Saints when he made his debut in the promotion winning season of 1977/78 and he also had the distinction of coming on as sub for Saints at Wembley in the 1979 League Cup Final.
But there would still not be another black face in the Saints first team picture till 1982, 16 year old Danny Wallace made his debut at Old Trafford in 1980 accompanied by Reuben Agboola but neither would grace the first team squad photo call till 1982 when suddenly Wallace and Agboola where joined by Justin Fashanu (Loan signing) Keith Cassells, and George Lawrence the rest as they say is history and Saints showed they were not scared to lead the way in an era when racist behavior on the terraces was prevalent.
So its perhaps fitting that Reuben Agboola should be at the forefront of this latest initiative and bring his old team mates Danny Wallace and George Lawrence back to the city.
They will be at an event at Solent University's Test park Sports Ground where they will hand out books detailing the history of black players in football.
Organised by the National Children's Football Alliance in association with Southampton Solent University, children from Bassett Green School and other schools will be there to meet the legends from 1pm to 3pm.
There will also be representatives from Saints, Hampshire Football Association, and Sholing FC who won the FA Vase Cup at Wembley.
Black History Southampton founder Don John said he wanted to see an end to racism in football in all forms.
"Football and race have had an uncomfortable relationship in recent times heightened even more so by the behaviour of Chelsea fans in Paris.
"Southampton plays its small part in responding to these issues by making available these copies of this acclaimed book.”
It is ironic that this event should be the day after the controversial documentary Immigration Street that focused on the City's Derby Road, Southampton has long had an immigrant population, starting with a migration of scousers as the big Shipping Lines relocated fro Liverpool in the early part of the 20th century and then after World War 2 a large number of Polish settled in the City, then in the 50's came those from the West Indies and the Indian sub continent as well as a healthy Irish contingent.
Immigration it could be said built Southampton in the 20th century and it has a proud tradition of not only rcial tolerance but racial integration, for some reason many of these immigrants in the main did not form ghettos in the city as was the case in other big centres of immigration at the time, but assimilated themselves into the community, thus it was not uncommon in the 1960's & 70's to go to school in Millbrook alongside those of West Indian, Pakistani or Indian background.
Southampton should be proud of its long tradition of embracing immigrants and although there are many now who would say that the time has come to curb immigration on a mass scale, the fact remains that over the past 60 years Southampton is a better and more culturally diverse place for those who have come from far away and made here their home.