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Dolores Huerta, United Farm Workers co-founder and civil rights icon, dies at 96

3:11 PM ETConfirmed

Technology Desk

In Short: Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America and a prominent civil rights activist, died Wednesday at the age of 96, her family announced.

Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America and a prominent civil rights activist, died Wednesday at the age of 96, her family announced. ABC7 Los Angeles and Fox5Vegas reported that Huerta passed away at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by family.

According to ABC7 Los Angeles and France 24 (France), Huerta's life was marked by her tireless advocacy for farm workers' rights and her influential slogan 'Sí, se puede!' which translates to 'Yes, it can be done.' Both outlets highlighted her role in co-founding the United Farm Workers of America with César Chavez.

While ABC7 Los Angeles noted that Huerta was born in New Mexico and raised in California's San Joaquin Valley, France 24 (France) focused on her pivotal role in empowering her community to face and overcome injustices.

Both ABC7 Los Angeles and France 24 (France) reported that Huerta's resolve and dedication cemented her place in history as one of the nation's most influential labor leaders, civil rights icons, and feminist activists.

Huerta's three-word Spanish-language slogan 'Sí, se puede!' was grounded in the belief that people could affect change, as noted by ABC7 Los Angeles and France 24 (France).

According to ABC7 Los Angeles and France 24 (France), Huerta's life partner was Richard Chavez, César's brother, and together they had four children.

Huerta's family said in a statement through her foundation that she died Wednesday at home, as reported by NPR and Fox5Vegas.

Huerta revealed earlier this year that she was sexually abused in the 1960s by Chavez, as reported by ABC7 Los Angeles and the BBC (United Kingdom).

The BBC (United Kingdom) and France 24 (France) both noted that Huerta kept this secret for 60 years, fearing that coming forward would compromise her life's work and unravel all the progress made for workers.

United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero said in a statement Wednesday, 'Her life’s work was to empower her community to face and overcome injustices, and she has left farm workers and the entire Latino community stronger and more organized than she found it,' as reported by the BBC (United Kingdom) and France 24 (France).

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Huerta 'a stalwart champion of working Americans,' as reported by the Sun-Sentinel.

California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas issued a statement on Huerta's passing, as reported by Kcra.

Background

What's confirmed

• Huerta was born in New Mexico and raised by a single mother in California's San Joaquin Valley, where she worked as a school teacher and then helped found a local chapter of a grassroots organization that fought segregation and police brutality.
• When then-President Barack Obama presented the award in 2012, he praised Huerta as a tenacious leader and joked that he had stolen her slogan for his 2008 campaign.
• Huerta's resolve cemented her place in history as one of the nation's most influential labor leaders, civil rights icons and feminist activists.
• Her three-word Spanish-language slogan — which translates to "Yes, it can be done" — was grounded in the belief that people could affect change.
• She quickly turned her interests to farm laborers and co-founded with César Chavez what eventually became the United Farm Workers of America.
• Huerta said she stayed silent for so long because she feared that coming forward would compromise her life's work and unravel all the progress made for workers.
• From the early 1970s on, Huerta's life partner was Richard Chavez, César's brother, and together they had four kids.
• In the wake of the revelation, she urged people to stand firm in fighting for their rights.
• Earlier this year, Huerta revealed that she was sexually abused in the 1960s by Chavez.
• Dolores Huerta, labor activist and civil rights icon, has died at the age of 96, her family announced Wednesday morning.
• Huerta died of cancer Wednesday at her home in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by family, said Erik Olvera, a family spokesperson.
• “It seems like history continues to repeat itself,” she told The Associated Press in August.

What's still developing

• 19, 1988, along with Howard Wallace, president of the San Francisco chapter of the UFW, left, and Maria Elena Chavez, 16, the daughter of Cesar Chavez, right, as part of a national boycott of what the UFW claims is the dangerous use of pesticides on table grapes.
• A family spokesman told The New York Times that Huerta died of cancer.
• In 1960, when Huerta started organizing farmworkers, they were paid extremely low wages — between 75 to 90 cents an hour on average nationally, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics — and had virtually no labor protections.
• The two wanted to focus more on the plight of farmworkers, so in 1962 they started the National Farm Workers Association, which became United Farm Workers of America a few years later.

Sources

• ABC7 Los Angeleslink
• Broomfieldenterpriselink
• CBS Newslink
• Chicoerlink
• France 24link
• Greeleytribunelink
• Kalwlink
• Know Your Rights Camplink
• Kokomo Tribunelink
• NPRlink
• Ottumwa Courierlink
• Sun-Sentinellink
• The San Francisco Standardlink
• Traverse City Record-Eaglelink
• Warpbeatlink
• Wtoplink
• ABC30 Action News — video link