About

The ACORN Oral History Project is a collection of interviews with former members, leaders, and staff of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). Together, these oral histories document the lifespan of ACORN – its successes and ambitions, as well as its challenges and vulnerabilities. We have taken an organizing approach to this project: most of these interviews were conducted by a volunteer team of former ACORN staff and members.  

Founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1970, ACORN built a multiracial anti-poverty organization of more than 50,000 dues-paying members in over 30 states and 150 cities. The organization won campaigns to increase wages, forced banks to reinvest billions of dollars in low-income neighborhoods, registered millions of new voters, and, most crucially, empowered thousands of working-class leaders who led their communities to victories over city halls, corporations, and the national political establishment. Yet ACORN also struggled with internal tensions over race, its own rapid expansion, and attacks from the right. The organization closed in 2010. 

Attacks on progressive organizations have only increased since the decline of ACORN in 2010 – making an examination of its history all the more urgent. Our hope is that these oral histories provide the basis for a fresh analysis of ACORN – in all of its complexity – so that we can build even stronger movements today. 

These interviews are also housed at NYU’s Tamiment Library.