Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farm Workers, dies at 96

Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) with Cesar Chavez and coined the rallying cry "Sí se puede" ("Yes, it can be done"), has died at 96, her family said in a statement ¹. The 19th reported that she died on Wednesday ².

Huerta co-founded the UFW with Cesar Chavez, and the union was the first nationally recognized union for farm workers ¹. She spent decades fighting labor injustices and political, racial and gender inequality ¹.

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From a classroom to the picket line

Born in New Mexico in 1930 and raised in Stockton, California, Huerta worked as a teacher before becoming a community organizer ¹. She left teaching after seeing the children of farm workers come to school barefoot and hungry, living in homes with dirt floors ¹. In her mid-20s she joined a California Latino civil rights group as a lobbyist, working in Sacramento for pensions for noncitizens and disability insurance for farm workers ¹.

She met Chavez at a 1955 fundraising dinner, and seven years later they launched the National Farm Workers Association, a forerunner to the UFW ¹. She was the lead negotiator for the grape worker contracts that resulted from the organizing, though her contributions were often overshadowed by Chavez ². She served as UFW vice president from its founding until 1999 ².

In 1974 she helped found the Coalition of Labor Union Women and worked to raise awareness about the dangers women faced in the fields, including an epidemic of sexual assault ².

A late revelation

In 2026, Huerta said that Chavez had sexually abused her during their time as union leaders, as part of a New York Times investigation alleging that Chavez had groomed and abused girls and women ¹. She said the first encounter was in 1960, when Chavez pressured her into sex, and the second was in 1966, a situation she described as rape ¹. She said she had not known about the young girls' and young women's allegations ¹.

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She said she kept the assaults secret to protect the work they were doing ². "Cesar's actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people," she said in her 2026 statement ¹.

What colleagues remember

Matthew J. Garcia, a professor at Dartmouth College and author of a 2014 book on Chavez and the farm worker movement, said Huerta was "the most famous Latina that has ever been in the labor movement, and the renown was well-earned" ¹. "She was extraordinary," he said ¹.

Domingo Garcia, former national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said Huerta "stood for courage" and "stood for righteousness and justice when it was unpopular to do so" ¹. He called her "a profile in courage that every American should know about, especially Latinos and women" ¹.

Honors and what comes next

In 1993 Huerta was the first Latina inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, and in 2012 President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor ¹. She was arrested more than 25 times for non-violent civil disobedience; in 2019, at 89, she was arrested while joining a union protest for better pay for home health care workers ¹. She also campaigned for many Democratic candidates ¹.

Her legacy continues through the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which she co-founded with her daughter Camila Chavez in 2003; her daughter continues to serve as its executive director ². California, Washington and Nevada celebrate Dolores Huerta Day ². The pattern is that Huerta's organizing outlasted the headlines: the phrase she coined in the fields was later used by immigration reform advocates in 2006 and by candidate Barack Obama in 2008 ¹.

The Record

1. Jan 1, 1955Huerta met Cesar Chavez at a fundraising dinner; seven years later they launched the National Farm Workers Association, a forerunner to the UFW ¹.
2. Jan 1, 1965Huerta helped organize the Delano Grape Strike, a five-year strike started by Filipino workers; about a week in, the NFWA joined with 1,200 Mexican laborers ².
3. Jan 1, 2012President Barack Obama awarded Huerta the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor ¹.
4. Mar 1, 2026Huerta told the New York Times that Chavez had sexually abused her, as part of an investigation into allegations against Chavez ¹².

Sources

1. NBC News, “Dolores Huerta, farmworker and civil rights activist, dies at 96” (2026-10-28). nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/dolores-huerta-farmworker-civil-
2. The 19th, “Dolores Huerta, Chicana activist and defender of farmworker rights, dies at 96” (2026-10-28). 19thnews.org/2026/10/dolores-huerta-dies/

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