BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Dolores Huerta, the pioneering labor organizer who co-founded the United Farm Workers, helped transform the rights of agricultural workers and became a leading voice for civil rights, women’s equality and immigrant justice, died Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield. She was 96.
Her death from cancer was confirmed by her family and a spokesperson for the Dolores Huerta Foundation, prompting tributes from labor organizations, civil rights advocates and elected officials across California and the nation.
“We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved mother, Dolores Huerta, has passed away today at the age of 96,” her family said in a statement released through her foundation.
The family requested privacy and said plans to celebrate her life and legacy would be announced later.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered flags at state buildings lowered to half-staff in Huerta’s honor, describing her as a close friend whose work reshaped California and the nation.
“Dolores represented the best of us,” Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom said in a joint statement. “California — and the United States — would not be what we are today without her resolute spirit, her passion for justice and fairness, and her commitment to those overlooked and forgotten.”
Born Dolores Clara Fernández on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico, Huerta grew up in Stockton after her parents separated. Her mother, Alicia Chávez, operated a restaurant and hotel and helped instill in her daughter a commitment to community service.
Huerta initially worked as an elementary school teacher but became increasingly troubled by the poverty experienced by the children of agricultural workers. She eventually left teaching to organize the families whose struggles she witnessed firsthand.
Her early activism brought her into the Community Service Organization, a Latino civil rights organization, where she met César Chávez. In 1962, the two established the National Farm Workers Association, which eventually became the United Farm Workers of America.
Together with Filipino agricultural workers and other organizers, Huerta helped build the movement surrounding the Delano grape strike and nationwide consumer boycotts that challenged the agricultural industry’s treatment of workers.
She became a central figure in negotiating contracts with major growers, securing improvements in wages, working conditions and benefits for workers who had historically been excluded from many basic labor protections.
The movement helped lay the groundwork for California’s Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which established collective bargaining rights for farmworkers.
Huerta also coined the phrase “Sí, se puede,” meaning “Yes, it can be done,” which became a rallying cry for labor, immigrant rights and political movements throughout the country.
United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero said Huerta’s organizing strengthened generations of agricultural workers and Latino communities.
“Her life’s 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 them,” Romero said in a statement reported by the Associated Press.
Huerta’s activism extended well beyond agricultural labor. She became a prominent advocate for women’s rights, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ equality, environmental protections and political participation.
Equality California Executive Director Tony Hoang, whose organization counted Huerta as a longtime board member, described her as a mentor and a personal friend.
“There are few people who have shaped the fight for justice and equality quite like Dolores Huerta,” Hoang said. “Today, Equality California mourns an extraordinary leader, a beloved member of our organization’s family, and a fierce and unwavering champion for LGBTQ+ people.”
Hoang said Huerta understood the connections between movements seeking equal rights and encouraged organizations to work across traditional boundaries.
“She stood alongside LGBTQ+ people, fought with us, and reminded us of the power we have when we organize together,” he said.
The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights also remembered Huerta as a mentor whose influence extended into the modern immigrant rights movement.
Angelica Salas, the organization’s executive director, said she had known and worked alongside Huerta for decades.
“We mourn the passing of Dolores Huerta, a guiding light, a mentor to thousands, and someone who demonstrated to all what it means to fight for justice all the way to the last day of her life,” Salas said.
Salas said Huerta remained politically engaged even during her final days, encouraging communities to participate in elections and continue organizing against injustice.
State Sen. Eloise Gómez Reyes, D-Colton, described Huerta as an important influence on her own life and political career.
“Dolores Huerta taught generations of us that we did not have to accept the world as it was,” Reyes said. “That ordinary people, working together, could challenge powerful institutions, overcome injustice, and build something better.”
Reyes said Huerta helped women recognize their ability to become leaders and create opportunities for others.
State Sen. Steve Padilla, D-San Diego, also recalled knowing Huerta personally and witnessing her commitment to working families.
“Dolores Huerta spent more than seven decades fighting for the people who feed this nation, and her life changed what is possible for workers, women, and communities across California and beyond,” Padilla said.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, recalled working with Huerta on environmental and economic justice issues, including proposals involving climate accountability and taxation.
“Her courage and passion helped build the farmworkers movement, and she never stopped fighting for justice — whether for workers, women, LGBTQ people, immigrants, or victims of climate disasters,” Wiener said.
Huerta’s life was also marked by personal sacrifice, physical violence and struggles within the movements she helped build.
In 1988, she suffered serious injuries when a San Francisco police officer struck her during a demonstration against then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. The attack left her with broken ribs and a severely damaged spleen, requiring extensive medical treatment.
She later reached a settlement with the city and continued her activism, increasingly emphasizing women’s political participation and leadership.
In March 2026, Huerta publicly disclosed that Chávez had sexually assaulted her decades earlier, including an alleged rape, and that two pregnancies resulted from their encounters. She said she had remained silent for approximately 60 years because she feared that speaking publicly would damage the farmworker movement.
Her disclosure came amid a broader investigation into allegations that Chávez sexually abused girls and women associated with the movement.
The revelations prompted a reassessment of Chávez’s legacy and renewed attention to the treatment of women within labor and civil rights organizations.
They also underscored the complicated history of a movement in which Huerta had played a central role but where women frequently struggled for recognition and authority.
Despite those revelations, Huerta continued to emphasize the importance of collective organizing and protecting the gains achieved by farmworkers.
Her influence extended into national politics. She worked with Robert F. Kennedy during his 1968 presidential campaign and was present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles when Kennedy was assassinated following his California primary victory.
Decades later, her organizing philosophy helped inspire another presidential campaign when Barack Obama adopted a variation of her signature phrase, “Sí, se puede,” as a central political slogan.
Obama awarded Huerta the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, recognizing her decades of contributions to labor organizing and civil rights.
Huerta also received numerous honorary degrees and became the first Latina inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. Schools, streets, public buildings and murals across the country bear her name.
In her later years, she expanded her organizing work through the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which focused on community leadership, education, civic participation and social justice, particularly in California’s Central Valley.
The foundation helped train new generations of organizers and supported efforts to increase political participation among communities that had historically been excluded from positions of power.
In Bakersfield, the planned Dolores Huerta Peace & Justice Cultural Center was envisioned as a permanent institution for community organizing and leadership development.
Huerta continued attending demonstrations, speaking publicly and participating in campaigns well into her 90s, refusing to withdraw from public life despite her advancing age.
Her death comes at a time when debates over immigrant rights, agricultural labor protections, economic inequality and political representation remain prominent in California and across the country.
In a 2025 documentary, Seeds of Change: The Life and Legacy of Dolores Huerta, she reflected on what she hoped to leave behind.
“I hope that my legacy will be one of an organizer that organized to fight injustice,” Huerta said.
For the organizations and leaders mourning her death Wednesday, that commitment to organizing remained central to her legacy.
As Newsom and Siebel Newsom said in their tribute, “Her legacy lies not just in the accomplishments she achieved, but in the people who follow in her footsteps, who take up the mantle and keep creating a better world.”
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