Dolores Huerta, Labor Activist and Co-Founder of United Farm Workers, Dies at 96
Huerta was a pivotal figure in the fight for agricultural workers' rights, co-founding the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez.
Dolores Huerta, a pioneering labor organizer and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW) union, died Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield, California. She was 96.
Huerta's foundation announced her death, stating she was surrounded by her family. Born in New Mexico and raised in California's San Joaquin Valley, Huerta began her career as a schoolteacher. She later turned her focus to labor organizing, eventually partnering with Cesar Chavez to establish the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. This organization merged with another group four years later to form the United Farm Workers.
Throughout her career, Huerta was a prominent advocate for better working conditions and rights for agricultural workers. She also worked on issues of segregation and police brutality earlier in her activism.
She remained active in labor and social justice movements for decades. In 2016, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her lifelong work.
