Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers Co-Founder, Dies at 96

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers (UFW) and a labour and civil-rights activist, died on 28 October 2026 at the age of 96. She died of cancer at her home in Bakersfield, California. Born on 10 April 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico, Huerta later moved to Stockton, California. Her family announced her death through the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which is based in California.

Farmworker organising and the UFW

Huerta and Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. The association later became the United Farm Workers, a labour union representing agricultural workers. Huerta and Chavez helped organise the 1965 Delano grape strike and an international boycott of grapes. The campaign sought improved conditions and pay for farmworkers, including access to clean water, rest periods and collective bargaining rights. Collective bargaining is negotiation between workers, usually through a union, and employers over terms of employment.

Huerta was arrested 22 times during peaceful demonstrations. She sustained severe injuries during a protest in 1988. She is widely credited with coining the Spanish-language rallying cry “¡Sí, se puede!”, meaning “Yes, it can be done”. The phrase became a slogan of the United Farm Workers and was later adapted by Barack Obama for his presidential campaign.

Labour rights and civil-rights activism

Farmworkers are people employed in agricultural work, including crop cultivation and harvesting. Labour organising has included strikes, boycotts and collective bargaining as methods for seeking changes to wages and working conditions. The Delano grape strike began in 1965 in California and involved Filipino and Mexican-American farmworkers.

Honours and public recognition

In 2012, Huerta received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from US President Barack Obama. The medal is the United States’ highest civilian honour. Following her death, California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in her honour. Huerta continued her activism through the Dolores Huerta Foundation, based in Bakersfield.

Important Facts for Exams

• The National Farm Workers Association was founded by Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez in 1962.
• The National Farm Workers Association later became the United Farm Workers.
• The Delano grape strike began in California in 1965.
• The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the United States’ highest civilian honour.

Huerta was born in Dawson, New Mexico, and died in Bakersfield, California, on 28 October 2026.