Summary
Dolores Huerta, a labor organizer and civil rights leader who co-founded the organization that became the United Farm Workers, died at age 96 at her home in Bakersfield, California. She helped negotiate farmworker contracts and win legal protections, while also advocating for voting rights, immigrant rights and other causes.
Key Facts
- Huerta died Wednesday, according to her family; no cause of death was announced.
- She co-founded the organization that became the United Farm Workers of America.
- She organized strikes and boycotts, negotiated contracts and lobbied elected officials on farmworkers’ behalf.
- Farmworker contracts she helped secure included provisions for higher wages, healthcare, retirement plans, rest periods and pesticide protections.
- She helped win California legislation extending certain welfare and disability-insurance protections to farmworkers.
- Huerta helped secure the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which established farmworkers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively.
- Her activism also addressed voting rights, women’s political participation, immigrant rights, racial equality, environmental justice and LGBTQ+ rights.
- Huerta was born in Dawson, New Mexico, on April 10, 1930, and later moved to Stockton, California.
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