“My mother was a dominant force in our family. And I always see her as the leader. And that was great for me as a young woman because I never saw that women had to be dominated by men.” – Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta is a labor leader, civil rights activist, and feminist. Though many know her as the co-founder of the labor union United Farm Workers, Dolores has dedicated her life to pushing forward the rights of workers, women, and immigrants, first in California and later throughout the US. She is credited for popularizing the phrase “Si, se puede” or “Yes, we can,” a motto that former US President Barack Obama later adopted. At 92, she still actively fights for her causes through the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

Dolores was born in New Mexico on April 10, 1930, to Juan Fernandez and Alicia Chavez. Her parents divorced when she was three years old. Her mother then took her and her two brothers to live in a farming community in Stockton, California.

A Strong Woman’s Influence

Dolores’ father was a farm worker and coal miner who later became a union leader and state legislator in New Mexico. But it was her mother that influenced and inspired her to become an advocate for workers’ rights. Alicia Chavez supported her young family by working as a waitress and a cannery worker. Through hard work, she was able to buy a 70-room hotel and restaurant.

Dolores saw her mother as a community leader known for her compassion and generosity. Her mother often let immigrant farm workers and their families stay in her hotel for free. Through Alicia, Dolores learned that working toward equality and social justice without resorting to violence is possible. Her views were also shaped by the marginalization and gender bias she experienced as a young Hispanic woman.

In the 1950s, Dolores earned her teaching credentials from the University of the Pacific’s Stockton College and began work as an elementary school teacher. But when she saw so many farm children arriving hungry at school, she realized she could do more to help by organizing farm workers and farmers. She then left her teaching job and embarked on her lifelong crusade for workers’ rights.

A Life of Activism

In 1962, Dolores co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with Cesar Chavez. The organization was the predecessor of United Farm Workers (UFW). UFW became prominent in the 1960s because of its involvement in the Delano grape strike. This five-year strike led to significant positive changes to California farm workers’ rights and welfare. Dolores later helped organize similar boycotts throughout the US in the 1970s. Through these boycotts, she helped create a national awareness and climate that led to the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975. This was the first law that recognized the rights of California farmworkers to begin bargaining collectively for better wages and working conditions.

Dolores faced ethnic and gender bias throughout her life. Until 2018, she was the only woman to sit on the UFW board. In the 1960s, while traveling to New York City to promote the boycott against California table grapes, Dolores met noted feminist Gloria Steinem. She began to take a feminist approach to her activism after the meeting and shone a spotlight on the rights of women workers. In turn, Dolores influenced Steinem to expand the feminist movement to include issues faced by women of color.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Dolores championed women’s issues and worked to have more Latinos and women elected to political office. She notably endorsed Hillary Clinton’s presidential nomination in 2007 and served as honorary co-chair of the 2017 Women’s March on Washington in protest of the then-newly inaugurated president Donald Trump.

While her work kept her busy, Dolores raised a brood of 11 children. One son, Emilio Huerta, became a lawyer and politician. Her youngest daughter, Camilla Chavez, works as executive director for the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

No Signs of Slowing Down

Dolores received many honors and accolades for her advocacies. In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded her the inaugural Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award. In 2012, President Barack Obama gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She has numerous schools and an asteroid named after her. She was also a board member of the Feminist Majority Foundation and the Secretary-Treasurer Emeritus of the United Farm Workers Association of America.

Despite her age, Dolores shows no signs of slowing down. She now works primarily through the Dolores Huerta Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to “inspire and organize communities to build volunteer organizations empowered to pursue social justice.” It has done this and much more. In 2015 at 85 years old, Huerta said, “As long as I have the energy and health, I am going to do as much as I can.”

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