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Labor leader and feminist activist Dolores Huerta dies at 96
The farmworker organizer co-founded the United Farm Workers and helped lead boycotts and strikes that improved conditions for laborers.
Pioneering labor leader Dolores Huerta died at age 96 on Wednesday, her family announced in a Facebook post. She was a co-founder of the United Farm Workers movement.
Born Dolores Clara Fernandez in New Mexico, she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with labor leader Cesar Chavez in 1962. Huerta said her most valued title has been "organizer."
The Latina icon received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 and was the first Latina inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. Several Southern California landmarks, including Dolores Huerta Square, are named in her honor.
In March 2026, Huerta confirmed allegations that Chavez had sexually abused women, revealing she herself was a survivor of his abuse decades earlier. The admission complicated the movement's historical legacy.
Survived by 13 children and numerous grandchildren, Huerta leaves behind the Dolores Huerta Foundation in Bakersfield, which continues her decades of community-based organizing and advocacy work.