How Dolores Huerta Went From Schoolteacher to Farmworker Movement Leader

Dolores Huerta, the labor organizer and civil rights leader who co-founded the United Farm Workers union, died Wednesday at 96, her family announced. Family spokesperson Erik Olvera told NBC Los Angeles she died of cancer at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by relatives.

Huerta is credited with coining the rallying cry "Sí se puede," Spanish for "Yes, we can," and kept up her activism into her 90s. The family said memorial arrangements will be announced later, according to CNN.

Key moments in Huerta's life

• April 10, 1930: Born Dolores Clara Fernandez in Dawson, New Mexico, according to CNN. After her parents divorced, her mother took the children to Stockton, California.
• 1955: Co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization, NBC Los Angeles reported. She had briefly taught school but felt driven to organize after seeing hungry children of farmworkers in her classroom.
• 1962: Founded the National Farm Workers Association with César Chávez. CNN reported that agricultural workers were excluded from federal protections for organizing at the time, and that the average farmworker earned $0.93 per hour. The UFW formed from the movement three years later, and Huerta served as its vice president until 1999.
• 1966: The union launched an international consumer boycott of grapes, which CNN said lasted four years. Chávez led a 300-mile march from Delano to Sacramento while Huerta negotiated with industry leaders.
• 1973: Huerta led a consumer grape boycott that NBC Los Angeles said led to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975.
• 1993: Became the first Latina inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame, according to NBC News.
• 1998: Received the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Bill Clinton.
• 2012: President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor.
• 2019: Arrested at 89 at a union protest for better pay for home health care workers. NBC News said she was arrested more than 25 times over her life for nonviolent civil disobedience.

Her disclosure about Chávez

Earlier this year, Huerta told The New York Times that Chávez had sexually abused her during their years in the movement. She said that in 1960 he pressured her into sex on a work trip, and that in 1966 he raped her. NBC Los Angeles reported that the abuse led to the birth of two children.

Huerta said she stayed silent for nearly 60 years because she feared that speaking out would damage the farmworker cause. CNN reported she told the Times she also worried that no one in the union would believe her. "My silence ends here," she said in a statement.

Tributes from officials and the union

The UFW called her a tireless advocate for farmworkers, women, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups. UFW President Teresa Romero said the best tribute to her would be for organizing work to continue.

Obama called Huerta a hero of his. He joked that she came up with the slogan he is often credited with, and that "Dolores got there first." California Gov. Gavin Newsom said she represented the best of the state and the country. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called her death a great loss to the city and the country, according to NBC Los Angeles. Flags at Los Angeles County buildings were ordered to half-staff Wednesday.

Why it matters

Huerta's work helped win farmworkers the right to bargain collectively for better wages and conditions, NBC News reported. Her campaigns also pushed for safer fields, including the elimination of harmful pesticides, as well as unemployment and health care benefits for agricultural workers, according to NBC Los Angeles.

Several sources noted that her role was long overshadowed by Chávez's. Domingo Garcia, a former national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, called her an unsung hero in U.S. history. Matthew J. Garcia, a Dartmouth College professor, told NBC News she was the most famous Latina in the labor movement.

Her legacy is complicated by her account of abuse within the movement, which Obama also acknowledged in his tribute. The UFW said the union she helped found will continue her work.

What comes next

Her family said it will follow up with plans to recognize and celebrate her life and legacy, and asked for privacy while it grieves.

Around Prague, based on reporting by NBC Los Angeles, NBC News, CNN