ASN NEWS USA — SPECIAL REPORT

BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA (ASN NEWS USA)— Dolores Huerta, the pioneering labor leader who co-founded the organization that became the United Farm Workers and gave the movement its rallying cry, “Sí se puede,” died Wednesday, October 28, at her home in Bakersfield, California. She was 96. Her family announced her death that day, and a family spokesman said the cause was cancer.

Huerta grew up in Stockton, California, after being born in New Mexico in 1930. She started her career as an elementary school teacher, then turned to organizing after seeing farmworkers’ children come to school hungry and barefoot. Working alongside Cesar Chavez, she helped lead the grape boycotts that brought national attention to conditions in California’s fields and helped win contracts that brought farmworkers job security, health care, rest periods, clean drinking water, and protection from pesticides.

The movement she helped build ultimately helped pass California’s landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, establishing collective bargaining rights for farmworkers. Her two words, “Sí se puede” — “Yes, we can” — traveled far beyond the fields, into immigration marches and national politics.

President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. The Dolores Huerta Foundation, which she founded in 2002, carried her work forward through grassroots organizing and civic engagement, and held a sold-out celebration of her 96th birthday in Los Angeles in June 2026.

She remained active into her 90s — registering voters, endorsing candidates, and speaking out for workers, women, and immigrants. Her legacy lives in every field worker who now has a contract, a voice, and a seat at the table.

Stay tuned to ASN News USA for more on the life and legacy of Dolores Huerta.

Reported by ASN News USA. Visit asnnewsusa.com or follow @ASNNewsUSA for updates.

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