{"id":510894,"date":"2026-10-28T18:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-28T18:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/510894\/"},"modified":"2026-10-28T18:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T18:32:08","slug":"dolores-huerta-labor-leader-feminist-civil-rights-icon-dies-at-96","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/510894\/","title":{"rendered":"Dolores Huerta, labor leader, feminist, civil rights icon, dies at 96"},"content":{"rendered":"

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN<\/p>\n

Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union to improve working conditions in the nation\u2019s fruit and vegetable fields and coined the enduring \u201cS\u00ed, se puede!\u201d rallying cry, has died. She was 96.<\/p>\n

Huerta\u2019s died of cancer Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by family, said Erik Olvera, a family spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Huerta kept a busy schedule well into her 90s, marching in protests and speaking across the country about race, poverty, LGBTQ+ and women\u2019s rights on behalf of her Bakersfield-based foundation.<\/p>\n

Just months ago, she encouraged activists to keep speaking out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like history continues to repeat itself,\u201d she told The Associated Press. \u201cYou see what\u2019s happening right now in our country, and we know that people have to stand up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huerta\u2019s resolve cemented her place in history<\/a>\u00a0as one of the nation\u2019s most influential labor leaders, civil rights icons and feminist activists. Her three-word Spanish-language slogan \u2014 which translates to \u201cYes, it can be done\u201d \u2014 was grounded in the belief that people who take action can affect change.<\/p>\n

Her work over the decades earned her accolades including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation\u2019s highest civilian honor. When President Barack Obama presented the award in 2012, he praised Huerta as a tenacious leader and noted that he had stolen her slogan for his 2008 campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer life\u2019s work was to empower her community to face and overcome injustices, and she has left farm workers and the entire Latino community stronger and more organized than she found it,\u201d United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero said in a statement Wednesday.<\/p>\n

This year, Huerta sent shock waves through the Latino community when she revealed that she was\u00a0sexually abused in the 1960s<\/a>\u00a0by the farmworker movement\u2019s co-founder, C\u00e9sar Chavez, leading to the birth of two children, a secret she had kept for 60 years, long after he died.<\/p>\n

From the early 1970s on, Huerta\u2019s life partner was Richard Chavez, C\u00e9sar\u2019s brother, and together they had four kids. She also had seven children from two earlier marriages.<\/p>\n

Huerta said she had kept silent for so long because she feared coming forward would compromise her life\u2019s work and unravel all the progress made for workers.<\/p>\n

When asked during a 2026 interview with the news organization Latino USA about keeping the secret, Huerta said: \u201cIt was my personal pain, it was my personal problem and, you know, I think it was worth it because it was my cross to bear. I\u2019ll say it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Dolores Huerta, the labor leader, civil rights activist and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, is seen at the California Democratic Party\u2019s 2025 State Convention at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., May 31, 2025. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes, File)\n<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta looks at a mural of the late Cesar Chavez during a dedication of the Cesar Chavez Monument on the San Jose State University campus in San Jose, Calif., Sept. 4, 2008. (AP Photo\/Paul Sakuma, File)\n<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Civil rights leader Dolores Huerta speaks during the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, July 28, 2016. (AP Photo\/Paul Sancya, File)\n<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Dolores Huerta, far right, thanks senators after the unanimous vote to designate April 10 as \u201cDolores Huerta Day,\u201d March 18, 2019, in Olympia, Wash. (AP Photo\/Rachel La Corte, File)\n<\/p>\n

\"United<\/p>\n

United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta, center, leads a rally in San Francisco\u2019s Mission District on Nov. 19, 1988, along with Howard Wallace, president of the San Francisco chapter of the UFW, left, and Maria Elena Chavez, 16, the daughter of Cesar Chavez, right, as part of a national boycott of what the UFW claims is the dangerous use of pesticides on table grapes. (AP Photo\/Court Mast, File)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 5<\/p>\n

FILE \u2013 Dolores Huerta, the labor leader, civil rights activist and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, is seen at the California Democratic Party\u2019s 2025 State Convention at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., May 31, 2025. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes, File)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a>
\nHomegrown activism<\/p>\n

Huerta was born Dolores Clara Fernandez in 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico. Her father was a miner and union activist who won a seat in the state Legislature. Her parents divorced when she was 3, and her mother took her and her brothers to California.<\/p>\n

Immersed in a melting pot of Mexican, Filipino, African American, Japanese and Chinese working families, Huerta learned from her mother \u2014 who owned a restaurant and hotel \u2014 about independence, compassion and activism.<\/p>\n

Huerta was a young, energetic elementary school teacher in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley when she decided to answer another calling after growing frustrated by her students\u2019 poor living conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes,\u201d she said in a 2017 PBS Independent Lens documentary on her life. \u201cI thought I could do more by organizing farmworkers than by trying to teach their hungry children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huerta\u2019s early work with a civil rights group in Stockton resulted in her meeting Chavez. The two wanted to focus more on the plight of farmworkers, so in 1962 they started the National Farm Workers Association, which became United Farm Workers of America a few years later. She was a key leader and negotiator for the union for years.<\/p>\n

She was among those who joined Filipino grape pickers on the picket line in what became the five-year \u201cDelano Grape Strike.\u201d With Chavez, she negotiated collective bargaining agreements and contracts with big growers, winning the first health and benefit plans for farmworkers.<\/p>\n

Chavez, who died in 1993, once described her as fearless, committed to the cause and tough when it came to negotiations.<\/p>\n

On the campaign trail<\/p>\n

She met Sen. Robert Kennedy during his visit to Delano in 1968 and volunteered with his presidential campaign, registering Mexican Americans in California to vote. Huerta was on stage with Kennedy after he won the California primary and he publicly thanked her, moments before he was shot.<\/p>\n

The assassination devastated Huerta, but she kept organizing. Huerta was jailed 22 times for union demonstrating.<\/p>\n

In 1988, she was seriously injured while protesting Republican presidential candidate George H.W. Bush\u2019s opposition to the UFW grape boycott during his visit to San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Caught in a crowd, she was struck by a police officer\u2019s baton, suffered three broken ribs and a pulverized spleen, and required more than a dozen blood transfusions. She reached a settlement with the city to resolve her claims.<\/p>\n

After a long recovery, Huerta shifted focus and hit the road to campaign for women\u2019s rights and encourage Latinas to run for office.<\/p>\n

She also campaigned for Democratic Presidents Bill Clinton, Obama and Joe Biden. California Gov. Gavin Newsom considered her a close friend.<\/p>\n

Fueled by courage<\/p>\n

Emilio Huerta, one of Dolores\u2019 13 children, said his mother\u2019s courage drove her life\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo dedicate your life to building a dream of a union for farmworkers, to take on agriculture, which to this day is still a powerhouse. \u2026 That took a lot of guts,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Huerta learned the art of lobbying politicians, securing financial aid for the unemployed and disability insurance for California farmworkers. She spoke out against toxic pesticides, pushed for amnesty for immigrants in the country illegally and campaigned against federal guest worker programs.<\/p>\n

By directing nationwide boycotts of grapes and lettuce in the early 1970s, she helped to create the economic pressure and political climate necessary for California to pass the first state law recognizing farmworkers\u2019 right to collective bargaining.<\/p>\n

Among her many accolades, she was the first Latina inducted into the National Women\u2019s Hall of Fame, and she received nine honorary doctorates from U.S. universities. Schools are named in her honor in California, Texas and Colorado. Her image graces many murals, and streets bear her name.<\/p>\n

But she didn\u2019t always win favor with more liberal activists.<\/p>\n

In 2016 when she endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton instead of Sen. Bernie Sanders in the presidential Democratic primary, actor Rosario Dawson \u2014 a Sanders supporter who played Huerta in a 2014 movie about C\u00e9sar Chavez \u2014 said Huerta had become \u201can instrument of the establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawson and Huerta eventually reconciled.<\/p>\n

Guitarist Carlos Santana later oversaw a documentary based on Huerta\u2019s life after the pair had a late-night conversation about music while in Hawaii. Santana, a Miles Davis fan, discovered Huerta was a huge fan of bebop legend Charlie Parker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI even met Charlie Parker. That\u2019s my claim to fame,\u201d Huerta joked during an interview with The Associated Press when she was 87.<\/p>\n

Huerta\u2019s leadership in the\u00a0labor movement<\/a>\u00a0made her name synonymous with civil rights in the U.S. and beyond. In the 2025 documentary \u201cSeeds of Change: The Life and Legacy of Dolores Huerta,\u201d she credited the 1970s women\u2019s movement for providing her with the validation she needed to take the stage with other labor leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that my legacy will be one of an organizer that organized to fight injustice,\u201d she said in the film. \u201cWe want to give our children an inheritance of justice, right, not jewels or property or money because they\u2019ll just fight over it. So the main thing to do is to give them this love for justice \u2014 and that is the greatest gift I think that any of us can have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associated Press contributors include Leslie Ambriz, Brian Melley, Russell Contreras and John Seewer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union to improve working conditions in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":510895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[114267,16848,74,76,75,110957],"class_list":["post-510894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-civil-rights-icon","tag-dolores-huerta","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-united-farmworkers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}