Dolores Huerta, Co-Founder of Farm Workers Union, Dies at 96
Her family announced her passing Wednesday, and she had recently disclosed that she was sexually abused by Cesar Chavez in the 1960s.
By Madison Lewis ·
Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez and coined the phrase "Si, se puede!" that became a rallying cry, died Wednesday at home. She was 96.
Her family announced her passing in a statement released through the Dolores Huerta Foundation. 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 before helping found a local chapter of an organization that fought segregation and police brutality. She then turned her attention to farm laborers and co-founded what became the United Farm Workers of America. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 from then-President Barack Obama, who praised her as a tenacious leader and joked that he had taken her slogan for his 2008 campaign.
In 2026, Huerta disclosed that she was sexually abused by Chavez in the 1960s, resulting in two children, a secret she kept for 60 years and long after he died. She said she stayed silent because she feared coming forward would compromise her life's work and unravel progress made for workers. From the early 1970s on, her life partner was Richard Chavez, Cesar's brother, and they had four children. She also had seven children from two earlier marriages.
After the revelation, she urged people to stand firm in fighting for their rights. Even into her mid-90s, Huerta marched and spoke in cities nationwide on race, poverty and women's rights on behalf of her California-based Dolores Huerta Foundation.
