Dolores Huerta, Civil‑Rights Champion, Dies at 96

Dolores Huerta, a pioneering U.S. civil‑rights leader who fought for farm workers, died at age 96, her family announced. She died of cancer, the BBC confirmed.

Huerta was a well‑known labor organizer. In the 1960s and 1970s, she campaigned with fellow leader César Chávez for the rights of farm workers. Together they co‑founded the United Farm Workers Union, or UFW. Huerta later continued her advocacy on immigration and voting issues through her foundation.

“As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for us, and we ask for privacy as we grieve this tremendous loss to our family,” family spokesman Erik Olvera said.

Huerta was born in New Mexico and grew up in Stockton, California, a hub of the state’s large agricultural industry. Her mother raised her and once worked at a cannery. After graduating from university, Huerta first became a teacher. She then turned to organizing workers and leading the Chicano power movement. She became the emotional center of several movements that called for better wages and better living and working conditions for poor people.

Later, she worked on civil rights, women’s rights, gender equality, and environmental issues. She did all of this while raising 11 children. She continued her work into her 90s.

“I would like to be remembered as a woman who cares for fellow humans,” she was reported to have said. “We must use our lives to make the world a better place to live, not just to acquire things. That is what we are put on this earth for.”

Huerta spent much of her life recruiting members to the union. She protested and picketed for many causes. She also helped negotiate the first farm‑worker contracts in North America.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton awarded Huerta the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award in 1998. In a statement, Clinton said he and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “lost a dear friend.” He added that “we’ve all lost a stalwart champion of working Americans.”

“To see her in action was to witness a living legend who never stopped pushing for progress and seeing every new obstacle as a fresh opportunity to educate, to organize, and to uplift—even as those efforts sometimes brought her grave consequences,” Clinton said.

California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday that Huerta “represented the best of us.” He praised her “resolute spirit, her passion for justice and fairness, and her commitment to those overlooked and forgotten.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass remembered Huerta as an “icon” and “fearless leader.” Bass said Huerta inspired many people to become activists and helped secure landmark protections nationwide. She highlighted Huerta’s work to change laws so farm workers could receive overtime pay after eight‑hour days and her role in creating the first comprehensive standards to prevent heat deaths in California.

“Dolores reminded us that no matter the odds, no matter the obstacle, we can build a greater life for ourselves, our community, our city, and our country,” Bass said.

According to the union, Huerta also helped end the Bracero Program, which brought Mexican men to the U.S. temporarily to work. She also helped negotiate the 1986 Immigration Reform Act.

María Teresa Kumar, president of the voting group Voto Latino, called Huerta a “civil‑rights giant.” Kumar said Huerta gave “her entire life, until her final days, to championing and fighting injustice for everyone, no matter who they were or where they came from.”

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus, made up of Democrats from the Senate and House of Representatives, said, “Dolores Huerta defied definition.” They added, “A national and international icon, her legacy is woven into the fabric of our history. Her fight for justice will continue to inspire generations. Rest in power, hermana.”

Earlier in 2025, Huerta said Chávez, who died in 1993, had “manipulated and pressured” her into sex. She also said he forced her on another occasion in the 1960s. Her statement came after The New York Times published an investigation. The report included allegations from Huerta and two other women. They said Chávez groomed and sexually abused girls involved in the labor movement. Huerta said the two encounters resulted in pregnancies she chose to keep secret. She arranged for the children to be raised by other families. Chávez’s family issued a statement at the time. They said they were “devastated” by the reports and praised the women’s “courage to come forward.”

After the abuse claims, activists and lawmakers re‑examined César Chávez Day, which is observed on March 31.

The UFW paid tribute to Huerta. In a statement posted to social media, the union said she had coined its motto: “Si Se Puede!” That is Spanish for “Yes, we can!” The phrase became a familiar rallying cry for activists seeking better working conditions for Hispanic farm workers.

“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 it,” the UFW said. “Her commitment to civic engagement and bringing political power to disenfranchised people is a lesson we all should carry to the ballot box.”