Dolores Huerta, a titanic figure in American labor and civil rights who co-founded the United Farm Workers and famously championed the rallying cry “Sí, se puede!” (Yes, it can be done!), has died at the age of 96. Huerta’s passing marks the end of an era for the labor movement she helped shape, a movement that gained national prominence through the Delano grape strike and boycott she co-led with César Chávez. While her decades of activism were instrumental in securing better working conditions and rights for farmworkers, often immigrants, and advancing women’s rights in a male-dominated field, her legacy is now intertwined with a recent, deeply personal revelation. In March, Huerta publicly accused her longtime partner and fellow UFW co-founder, César Chávez, of sexual abuse, detailing two separate incidents in 1960 and 1966 that resulted in pregnancies she later had adopted. She explained her decades of silence stemmed from a fear of not being believed and of damaging the nascent Latino civil rights movement, emphasizing that the movement was ultimately larger than any individual, including herself or Chávez. Despite these painful revelations, Huerta remained a formidable force, advocating for social justice well into her nineties, and her enduring impact on workers’ rights and political change is undeniable.
Adapted from: U.S. News Today on Fox News
