Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, who gave the world “Sí, se puede,” has died aged 96.
For more than 70 years, Dolores Huerta never stopped fighting for the people who grow America’s food, marching, organizing, and ultimately being arrested more times than she could count.
Now the pioneering labor and civil rights leader has passed away at the age of 96.
Huerta’s family shared the news in a Facebook post on Wednesday, October 28, saying they were deeply saddened to announce that their beloved mother had passed away. Tributes have since poured in from leaders across California and the rest of the country.
Dolores Clara Fernández was born on April 10, 1930, in the small mining town of Dawson, New Mexico. According to AP, her father was a miner and union activist who went on to win a seat in the state legislature.
Huerta became a teacher in rural California in 1954, though quit after just one year because she couldn’t bear to see her students arriving at school hungry and without shoes. She decided she could do more to help them by organizing their parents.
In 1955, she co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization. In the early 1960s, she joined forces with César Chávez to found the union that would become the United Farm Workers. Together, they fought for fair pay, safer conditions and basic dignity for farmworkers.
Huerta coined the rallying cry “Sí, se puede,” which means “Yes, we can.” It became a slogan for generations of activists, with Barack Obama later crediting her as the inspiration for the famous slogan of his first presidential campaign.
All told, Huerta’s activism saw her jailed 22 times during union demonstrations. In 1988, she was badly beaten by a police officer with a baton during a peaceful protest in San Francisco, and subsequently spent a long time in recovery.
In 2002, she founded the Dolores Huerta Foundation to support farmworkers and rural communities. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012, and California declared April 10 “Dolores Huerta Day” in her honor.
Even in her late eighties, she still fought the good fight. Aged 89, she was handcuffed and arrested at a protest in California over pay for home care workers. Just months before her death, she was still urging activists to keep speaking out.
Rest in peace, Dolores.
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