Neil Sealy

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Neil Sealy worked for ACORN as a staff organizer in Little Rock, Arkansas from 1984 through its end in 2009, after which he continued his organizing work at the ACORN successor organization Arkansas Community Organization (ACO). He is currently the Executive Director of ACO. In this interview, Sealy talks about growing up white in Jim Crow North Carolina, and how that compelled him to fight for justice in the South. He discusses various ACORN campaigns in Little Rock and Pine Bluff, including a no-winter-shut-off campaign to keep peoples’ gas on, housing campaigns, and using changes to the Community Reinvestment Act and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act to file for CRA interventions with two of the state’s biggest banks. He also brings up ACORN’s endorsement of Pine Bluff members running for city council, and how multiple ACORN members were elected to the City Board of Directors in Little Rock, including Gloria Wilson. He discusses repression from the Right, the end of ACORN, and it’s legacy today. The interview may be of interest to those who want to hear about organizing in Arkansas (the state where ACORN originated), what it was like to work in a smaller ACORN office, and organizing in both rural and urban areas — all from the perspective of a lifelong community organizer.

Neil Sealy

Archival Objects

Photograph of an ACORN action from the Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas

Framed photograph from the Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas, featuring a little girl holding up a sign that reads, “ACORN Fights for: Living Wage”

Poster hanging on the wall at the Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas. It’s cut in the shape of the state of Arkansas and reads “Arkansas Needs Living Wage”.

Campaign poster for Gloria Wilson’s City Director run, hanging on the wall at the Arkansas Community Organization (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Poster hanging on the wall at the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas that reads, “Arkansas Renters United”.

ACORN poster hanging on the wall at the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in LIttle Rock, Arkansas that reads, “ACORN Make The Minimum Wage A Living Wage”.

Photograph of posters covering the walls at the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in LIttle Rock, Arkansas

Sereies of photographs of ACORN actions hanging on the wall at the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Photographs covering the wall at the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Photograph from the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas, featuring two women holding up an ACORN flag and a poster that reads, “Health Care For America Now!”

Photograph from the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas, featuring an ACORN action where a group of kids are holding up a banner that reads, “ARKANSAS ACORN”.

Photograph of a 2010 Op-Ed in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette in support of ACORN amidst right-wing attacks.

Photograph of an Arkansas Times article about the founding of successor organization Arkansas Cummunity Organizations (ACO) after the dissolution of ACORN.

Op-Ed by Pine Bluff ACO leader Maxine Nelson in support of legislation to address the financial crisis, hanging on the wall at the Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Photograph of an ACORN action hanging on the wall of the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Photographs covering the wall at the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Photograph from the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Photograph from the Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas. Neil Sealy on the far right.

Photograph of an ACORN action, from the Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Photograph of an ACORN Arkansas poster advertising an “Immigrant Rights Committee Meeting”.

Photograph of a poster advertising ACORN.

Photograph from the Arksansas Community Organizations (ACO) office in Little Rock, Arkansas, featuring Little Rock organizer Mike Price, who was active from 2007-2011.