Dolores Huerta attends a film premiere in Los Angeles, California, in July. The pioneering labor organizer died at 96 on Oct. 28, 2026. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
Dolores Huerta, the trailblazing labor activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers and spent decades advocating for better conditions for agricultural workers, has died at age 96.
Huerta died Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by close family, her foundation said.
Born in New Mexico and raised by her single mother in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Huerta began her career as a teacher. She later helped create a local chapter of a grassroots group that challenged segregation and police brutality.
Her attention eventually shifted to labor organizing. In 1962, she and Cesar Chavez, whom she later accused of sexual abuse, founded the National Farm Workers Association. Four years later, the group merged with another organization to create the United Farm Workers union.
Dolores Huerta waves to fans before throwing out the first pitch during Mexican Heritage Night at Dodger Stadium on May 26, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Six decades after its creation, the United Farm Workers remains the nation’s longest-running labor union representing agricultural workers.
Huerta became one of the country’s most influential and enduring labor leaders, widely recognized for her rallying cry: “Sí, se puede!”
The phrase translates into English as “Yes, it can be done,” capturing Huerta’s firm belief that ordinary people can drive political change.
Alongside her efforts to improve the lives of people working in America’s fruit and vegetable fields, many of them immigrants, Huerta emerged as a leading advocate for civil rights and women’s rights. She challenged discrimination and pushed for gender equality within a labor movement largely led by men.
Dolores Huerta attends a demonstration after the Women’s March Foundation and Feminist Majority delivered 15,000 letters, postcards and printed emails to Senator Kyrsten Sinema on Aug. 2, 2021, in Phoenix, Arizona. (Matt Young/Getty Images)
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
