Labor leader Dolores Huerta dies at 96

Dolores Huerta, the labor organizer who co-founded the United Farm Workers union and popularized the phrase “Sí, se puede,” died Wednesday at her home in California. Her family announced the death through a statement issued by the Dolores Huerta Foundation. She was 96.

Born in New Mexico, Huerta was raised by a single mother in the San Joaquin Valley of California. She began her career as a school teacher before joining a grassroots group that campaigned against segregation and police brutality. That work led her to organize farm laborers, where she teamed up with César Chávez to create what became the United Farm Workers of America.

Huerta’s advocacy for fruit and vegetable field workers earned her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States. President Barack Obama presented the honor in 2012. He described her as a tenacious leader and noted that he had adopted her slogan for his 2008 presidential campaign.

Earlier this year, Huerta disclosed that Chávez had sexually abused her in the 1960s. The relationship resulted in two children, a fact she kept private for six decades until after Chávez died. She explained that she remained silent for so long because she feared that public disclosure would undermine the progress she and Chávez had achieved for farm workers.

Following the revelation, Huerta urged the public to continue fighting for their rights. She had been living with Richard Chávez, César’s brother, since the early 1970s. The couple raised four children together. Huerta also had seven children from two previous marriages.

Through her California-based foundation, Huerta continued to march and speak across the country on issues of race, poverty, and women’s rights well into her mid-90s. Her death marks the end of a career that spanned more than six decades of activism.

The Dolores Huerta Foundation will lead future initiatives to continue her work in labor rights and social justice.