Farmworker Organizing: Dolores Huerta dies at 96

Dolores Huerta, the labor organizer who helped build the first nationally recognized union for farmworkers, died Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield, California. She was 96 years old. Erik Olvera, a spokesman for her family, told The New York Times that Huerta died of cancer.

Huerta was born on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico. In 1966, she and Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association. That group later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to form the United Farm Workers, or UFW. The union became the first to secure national recognition for agricultural laborers in the United States.

Her influence extended beyond the farm fields. In 1993, Huerta became the first Latina inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2012, former President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the country. Obama cited her role in leading a worldwide grape boycott that forced growers to sign some of the nation’s first farm worker contracts. He noted that she had no prior negotiating experience when she began that campaign.

In recent years, Huerta publicly addressed her past relationship with Chavez. In May of this year, she revealed that she had been manipulated and pressured into having sex with him. She stated that she broke her silence because a New York Times investigation showed she was not the only person affected. The report detailed accusations that Chavez sexually assaulted Huerta in the 1960s and abused two underage girls in the 1970s. Huerta said, “I can no longer stay silent and must share my own experiences.”

After stepping down as a union officer in 1999, Huerta continued her advocacy work. In 2003, she founded the Dolores Huerta Foundation. The organization aims to create networks of healthy, organized communities that pursue social justice through systemic change. Her public statements remained sharp into her later years. In 2004, she declared that fascism and voter suppression were real threats in U.S. politics.

Huerta left behind a legacy that includes murals, ballads, and a prominent place in civil rights history. She is survived by 11 children. She had two daughters with her first husband, Ralph Head. She had five children with her second husband, Venturo Huerta. She had four children with Richard Chavez, the brother of Cesar Chavez, who died in 2011.

Her death marks the end of an era for the farmworker movement. The UFW continues to operate under the framework she and Chavez established nearly six decades ago. Huerta’s foundation remains active in community organizing efforts across the United States.

The family plans to hold private services in the coming weeks. No public memorial has been scheduled yet. Huerta’s advocacy for fair wages and voting rights defined her public life from the 1960s until her death in 2026.