Dolores Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers union to improve working conditions in the nation’s fruit and vegetable fields.
She coined the phrase “Sí, se puede!” that became a widespread rallying cry in the 1960s, and the civil rights work she established then, continued her entire life.
Huerta died Wednesday, Oct. 28 at her home. She was 96.
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United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta, center, leads a rally in San Francisco on Nov. 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 said is the dangerous use of pesticides on table grapes. (AP Photo/Court Mast, File) -
President Barack Obama awards labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in the White House on May 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) -
Dolores Huerta, the labor leader, civil rights activist and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association, smiles as delegates take photos at the California Democratic Party’s 2025 State Convention at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) -
Dolores Huerta, founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America, speaks Thursday, September 6, 2018, as she receives an award during a fundraiser for the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry at the Riverside Convention Center. (File photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) -
Labor leader Dolores Huerta waves before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch prior to a baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies, Tuesday, May 26, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) -
Cheech Marin listens to Dolores Huerta after she receives an award Thursday, Sept. 6, 2018, at a fundraiser for the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry in Riverside. (File Photo by Terry Pierson, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) -
Dolores Huerta, who formed a farm workers union with Cesar Chavez, stands for the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish while visiting the New Mexico Statehouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on Feb. 27, 2019. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras, File) -
Dolores Huerta, 89, walks to the podium as she is escorted by Emely Cosio, 12, during the first Dolores Huerta Day at the Dolores Huerta International Academy in Fontana on Monday, April 15, 2019. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) -
Dolores Huerta, 89, watches a performance by children during the first Dolores Huerta Day at the Dolores Huerta International Academy in Fontana on Monday, April 15, 2019. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) -
Students take part in the first Dolores Huerta Day at the Dolores Huerta International Academy in Fontana on Monday, April 15, 2019. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) -
Dolores Huerta speaks with students at the first Dolores Huerta Day at the Dolores Huerta International Academy in Fontana on Monday, April 15, 2019. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) -
Dolores Huerta, 89, speaks to those gathered during the first Dolores Huerta Day at the Dolores Huerta International Academy in Fontana Monday, April 15, 2019. Huerta was a leader and civil rights activist, and along with Cesar Chavez, was a co-founder of the United Farm Workers. (File photo by Will Lester, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) -
United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta looks at a mural of the late Cesar Chavez during a dedication of the Cesar Chavez Monument at San Jose State University on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) -
(L-R) Series Executive Producer Lois Vossen, activist Dolores Huerta, writer, producer, director Peter Bratt and actor Benjamin Bratt speak during the PBS segment of the 2018 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at The Langham Huntington, Pasadena on January 16, 2018 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images) -
Dolores Huerta arrives at the 2025 Women in Film Honors event on Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, at The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) -
Co-founder of the United Farm Workers of America (UFW) labor union Dolores Huerta, 95, poses in her office in Bakersfield, California, on July 21, 2025. One of the best-known leaders in the decades-long struggle for US farm laborer rights, Dolores Huerta may be 95 years old but she is busier than ever. With the Trump administration ramping up immigration raids targeting farmworkers, the veteran activist — who co-founded the country’s largest agricultural union more than 60 years ago — is a galvanizing figure for those seeking to fight back. (Photo by Robyn Beck / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images) -
Labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, receives an honorary degree from USC on Friday, May 12, 2023, in Los Angeles. (File photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) -
Dolores Huerta ends a speech with a bow at San Bernardino Valley College on Wednesday, March 7, 2018. (File photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Sun/SCNG) -
Juanita Chavez, the daughter of labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, attends a mural unveiling on behalf of her mother Monday, Oct. 12, 2020, in Costa Mesa. (File photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) -
Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, greets students at UC Irvine in 1997 after speaking about the United Farm Workers. (File Photo by Chas Metivier, Orange County Register/SCNG) -
Labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, speaks via a video conference during A Celebration of Women’s History Month at Marshall Fundamental Secondary School in Pasadena on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (File photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) -
Dolores Huerta and Billie Jean King attend the 2022 Embrace Ambition Summit, hosted by the Tory Burch Foundation at Jazz at Lincoln Center on June 14, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images) -
Juanita and Marlina Chavez accept the John Anson Ford Human Relations Courage award for their mother, Dolores Huerta, pictured, in a ceremony at the Los Angeles County Hall of Administration on Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2023. (File photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) -
Activist Dolores Huerta looks on during an election-night gathering for California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes on June 02, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. Becerra is in a tight nonpartisan primary race with fellow Democrat Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) -
Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, speaks in 2022 at the California Economic Summit.(Courtesy of April McGill, California Forward) -
Dolores Huerta arrives at the premiere of “Radical” on Monday, Oct. 30, 2023 at Regency Bruin Theatre in Los Angeles. (File photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) -
Dolores Huerta, center, poses for a picture with Gisel Couso during the opening of Hillary Clinton’s first Southern California campaign office a the Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 300 on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 in Los Angeles on Tuesday, May 3, 2016. (File photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG) -
Dolores Huerta attends the TIME Latino Leaders Event at Soulmate on November 29, 2023 in West Hollywood, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for TIME) -
Dolores Huerta attends the ‘Cesar Chavez’ press conference during 64th Berlinale International Film Festival at Grand Hyatt Hotel on February 12, 2014 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo by Clemens Bilan/Getty Images) -
Dolores Huerta, President of the Dolores Huerta Foundation speaking at Oath of Office Ceremony that was held for Hilda L. Solis, Supervisor 1st District of County of Los Angeles at Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration Monday, December 1, 2014. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News/SCNG) -
A mural by Riverside artist Andrea Lopez featuring civil rights activist Dolores Huerta at the Moreno Valley Public Library. Huerta, depicted in the mural’s bottom-left corner, was painted over Cesar Chavez after the New York Times bombshell report on his alleged sexual misconduct. (Courtesy photo by Andrea Lopez) -
Dolores Huerta passed away at the age of 96. American labor leader and civil rights activist, Dolores Huerta looks on during the opening of Hillary Clinton’s first Southern California campaign office a the Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 300 on Tuesday, May 3, 2016 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Pasadena Star-News/ SCNG) -
A mural depicting Delores Huerta on the Hotel Barclay in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 28, 2026. Dolores Huerta, influential labor leader, feminist and civil rights icon, died at 96. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG) -
Celebrated Los Angeles muralist Robert Vargas shares a moment with Dolores Huerta, renowned American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers Union, during the dedication of a new mural by Vargas honoring Huerta, at a ceremony hosted by AHF on Saturday, May 16, 2026, in Downtown Los Angeles. The mural, titled, “Walking into History,” by Vargas, is on a six-story wall of the historic Barclay Hotel, the oldest continually operating hotel in Los Angeles and one of Housing4Humanity’s affordable housing hotels housing formerly homeless and extremely low-income individuals. (Jordan Strauss/AP Content Services for AIDS Healthcare Foundation) -
Dolores Huerta, co-founder of United Farms Workers stands by a portrait of herself taken in 1998 by photographer Angela Torres, as she tours her exhibition, “Viva la Causa! Dolores Huerta and the Struggle for Justice,” at La Plaza de la Cultura y Artes museum downtown Los Angeles on Thursday, April 10, 2014. The exhibit examines the role Huerta played in the fight for the rights of farm workers, and in the founding, with Cesar Chavez, of the United Farms Workers (UFW). The show will be on view thru July 7. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
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United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta, center, leads a rally in San Francisco on Nov. 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 said is the dangerous use of pesticides on table grapes. (AP Photo/Court Mast, File)