On Tuesday, August 26, 2025, at 11.30 a.m. Joseph Gallivan talks to photographer Alan Wieder about his new photo book “We Will Not Be Removed: The People of King School Park”. Wieder talks about photographing people in the park in gentrified Northeast Portland, taking 5,000 photos over four years, how he established relationships that helped him make intimate portraits and candid photo journalism, and how he uses his digital Leica Q to create an oral and photographic history of a changing part of Portland, one which Pulitzer Prize–winning author Mitchell Jackson, who grew up in the King Park neighborhood, says turned from a neighbohoo to a hood.
Alan Wieder is an oral historian and photographer who taught for 25 years at the University of South Carolina. Between 2020 and 2024 he took photographs and interviewed people at King School Park in Portland. His book from the project, We Will Not Be Removed: The People of King School Park comes out on September 2nd and is published by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission with distribution by Oregon State University Press.
Says Wieder:
“The park is a block off of MLK and NE Alberta in the neighborhood that unofficially divides North Portland and Northeast Portland. As you know, gentrification began in the 1990s and great numbers of African Americans left the neighborhood -- many now living miles away in East Portland.
Some of the people from the area refused to give up their park and my book is a 4 year photography collection with quotes from interviews with individuals. The book is being published by the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission and distributed by Oregon State University Press.”
There are two events scheduled for the first week of September.
Wieder will present the book from 6 to 7 on September 3rd at Broadway Books https://broadwaybooks.net/
He will show his work at FranklinFoto throughout the month. The reception is from 5 to 8 on September 6th.
From the press release:
“This is the story of a Portland park and a community that refuses to be “removed.” In spite of being displaced, this community survives. Birthdays are celebrated, tragedy is commemorated, and, most important, people who grew up in the neighborhood, as well as their offspring, connect in the park each day. I’ve been privileged to try to capture their spirit through pictures for almost five years. Individuals have welcomed me into their lives.” —Alan Wieder, from the Introduction
During the latter half of the twentieth century, sections of North and Northeast Portland experienced significant gentrification. Many people—predominantly the Black population, whose families had lived there for generations—were pushed out of their neighborhoods to distant corners of the city. Despite such dislocations, some refused to give up their connection to what had historically been their neighborhood park. They travel back to the neighborhood daily to spend time at a park that has come to represent family and community.
From 2020 to 2024 Alan Wieder visited the King School Park almost every day, photographing and interviewing the individuals who regularly frequent the park. We Will Not Be Removed documents this community, which, against all odds, continues to persevere. Pulitzer Prize–winning author Mitchell Jackson, who grew up in the King Park neighborhood, pens the foreword, providing a sense of how these blocks in North Portland mattered to those who lived there. With poignant quotations captured from the interviews and Wieder’s seventy black-and-white photographs, We Will Not Be Removed is a powerful testimony to the lasting bonds of community.
About the author
Alan Wieder is a photographer and oral historian. He is the author of several books including Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid and Studs Terkel: Politics, Culture, but Mostly Conversation. He lives in Asheville, North Carolina.
Special note: I am now a TriMet bus operator, as of August 24, 2025.
If you want to help produce Art Focus, now’s your chance.
Find me on LinkedIn and refer me to your friends who appreciate art or writing or both.
KBOO’s Summer Fundraiser 2025
Where do you get your art content?
Just go to kboo.fm/give or text K-B-O-O to 44-321.
We need your money.
Camp is officially in session! Consider us to be your camp counselors for the summer. We've got lots planned to keep you busy — live remote broadcasts, music festivals, our very own KBOO pride event, and of course as always, a summer full of unique and important music and public affairs programming you won't hear anywhere else.
Help us all be happy campers and hit our $50,000 goal by June 29th! Make a donation below to reserve your spot at Camp KBOO today, and help us keep volunteer powered radio on the air!
Art Focus on K-B-O-O Portland is the show where artists talk about their work.
KBOO is a volunteer-powered community platform. That means we are funded by you, the listener.
To hear previous episodes of Art Focus or any of our KBOO public affairs programming, just go to KBOO dot F-M or listen on iTunes, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Joseph Gallivan has been a reporter since 1990. He has covered music for the London Independent, Technology for the New York Post, and arts and culture for the Portland Tribune and for Axios Portland. He is the author of two novels, "Oi, Ref!" and "England All Over" which are available lightly used.