Labor leader and feminist activist Dolores Huerta dies at 96
- Labor and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta died Wednesday, October 28, 2026, at age 96 in her Bakersfield home, her family announced. A spokesperson confirmed she had been battling cancer.
- In 1962, Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chavez, later renamed the United Farm Workers. She served as chief negotiator and coined the movement's enduring slogan, "Si, se puede," meaning "Yes, it can be done."
- Earlier this year, Huerta revealed to the New York Times that she was sexually abused by Chavez in the 1960s, a secret she kept for 60 years to protect the movement. She later spoke out to support other survivors of his alleged abuse.
- U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury called Huerta "a friend," while Rep. Joaquin Castro praised her as a "trailblazing civil rights leader" for improving countless lives through decades of advocacy.
- The Bakersfield-based Dolores Huerta Foundation, which she co-founded in 2003, continues her legacy through executive director Camila Chavez, who leads grassroots organizing efforts to advance social justice and systemic change.
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448 Articles
The Sun Chronicle
Worker rights pioneer Dolores Huerta wanted others to feel seen
Dolores Huerta had spent decades advocating for labor rights and marginalized people when she went to a central California college and met a group of farmworkers’ descendants — many of them students who choked back tears over the then-94-year-old taking…
Civil rights leader inspired local residents to engage, push for change
As an immigrant, a woman and a mother in the Central Valley, Nataly Santamaria didn’t feel like there was much she could do to fundamentally help her community. Then she met Dolores Huerta.
The influential American union leader and feminist Dolores Huerta died on Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield, California, from cancer. She was 96 years old. Huerta was known as one of the country's most influential union leaders, icons of the civil rights movement, and feminist activists. Her Spanish-language slogan was "Sí, se puede!", loosely translated as "Yes, it can be done!". It was a symbol of her conviction that people who take action…
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