As you walk across the bridge at Bristol Harbourside you may have noticed numerous love locks hanging along the side where people display their love for each other.
Some call it the love bridge and may have no idea about the correct name - Pero's Bridge.
Only recently I learned that the bridge was named after Pero Jones. Pero was an African man who was enslaved and purchased when he was only 12 years old, and taken to Bristol to work for John Pinney, who was a sugar merchant from Bristol.
READ MORE: Bristol's docks where fortunes were made and lost
John Pinney is said to have enslaved between 236 and 276 people, and was a plantation owner on the island of Nevis in the West Indies.
Over the years of living in Bristol, I have walked across the bridge countless times not knowing its history or that it was named after Pero.
Hidden a few feet away from the bridge on the ground and in front of the bike racks is where you will find the plaque. A plaque that was meant to be a memorial felt more like an afterthought. Passers-by will never notice it.
I could barely read the writing, shocked and in disbelief that this faded and forgotten plaque was the legacy of Pero and all those that had travelled this long road of the slavery horror.
The dark and damp stone looked like the residue of so many tears shed. After seeing all the love locks on the bridge, it made me wonder about the lack of love that Pero and many other captured Africans must have felt.
I started to think about Pero as a boy of 12 being taken away from his family and never having a loving hug from them ever again. Did he ever feel love or find love?
Possibly not, because he remained a slave for the rest of his life. Pero fell ill in 1798 when he died. He had been a slave for more than 32 years, finally free from his entrapment.
Ironically, the bridge has become a symbol of love.
There have been several campaigns for the love locks to be removed and an information board or statue to replace the plaque, to highlight the story of Pero Jones.
The history of Bristol can’t be hidden any longer, it’s time for change.
We need to be the change that makes the change. Rise Pero, Rise!
Paul Douglas is a photographer and videographer who shares his Bristol street portraits on Instagram via @sirpauldouglas
