Dolores Huerta attends a film premiere in Los Angeles, California, in July. The pioneering labor organizer died at the age of 96 on Oct. 28, 2026. (Michael Tullberg/Getty Images)
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Dolores Huerta, the pioneering labor activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers union and spent decades fighting for better working conditions for America’s agricultural workers, has died. She was 96.
Huerta died at her home on Wednesday in Bakersfield, California, surrounded by her close family, her foundation announced.
Born in New Mexico and raised by a single mother in California’s San Joaquin Valley, Huerta began her career as a schoolteacher before helping establish a local chapter of a grassroots organization that challenged segregation and police brutality.
Eventually, her focus turned to labor organizing, and together with Cesar Chavez, whom she’d later accuse of sexual abuse, she built the National Farm Workers Association in 1962. Four years later, that association merged with another organization to form the United Farm Workers union.
Dolores Huerta waves to fans before throwing out the first pitch during Mexican Heritage Night at Dodger Stadium on May 26, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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