Dolores Huerta

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Dolores Huerta speaking at a rally in Santa Barbara, California on September 24, 2006

Dolores C. Huerta (born April 10, 1930) is the co-founder and First Vice President Emeritus of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO (UFW).

She was born in the miningtown of Dawson,New Mexico where her father, Juan Fernandez, was a miner, field worker, union activist and state legislator. Her parents divorced when she was three years old. Her mother, Alicia Chavez, raised Dolores, along with her two brothers, and two sisters, in the central San Joaquin Valley farmworker community of Stockton, California. Her mother was a businesswoman who owned a restaurant and a 70-room hotel that often put up farmworker families for free.

In 1955, Huerta co-founded the Sacramento chapter of the Community Service Organization, and in 1960 co-founded the Agricultural Workers Association. In 1962, she co-founded the National Farm Workers Association with Cesar Chávez, which would later become the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee and still later, the UFW. In 1966, she negotiated a contract between the UFWOC and Schenley Wine Company, marking the first time that farmworkers were able to successfully collectively bargain with an agricultural enterprise.

Dolores directed the UFW’s national grape boycott taking the plight of the farm workers to the consumers. The boycott resulted in the entire California table grape industry signing a three-year collective bargaining agreement with the United Farm Workers.

She has been highly politically active, lobbying in favor of (and against) numerous California and federal laws. The laws that she supported included:

A 1960 bill to permit people to take the California driver's examination in Spanish
1962 legislation repealing the Bracero Program
1963 legislation to extend Aid to Families with Dependent Children to California farmworkers
The 1973 Agricultural Labor Relations Act

As an advocate for farmworkers' rights, Huerta has been arrested twenty-two times for participating in non-violent civil disobedience activities and strikes. Huerta's organizing and lobbying efforts are often overshadowed by those of Cesar Chávez, who is revered by many (especially Chicanos) as the primary figure of the Chicano civil rights movement. She remains active in progressive causes, and serves on the boards of People For the American Way and Feminist Majority Foundation.

Huerta's depiction on a Precita Eyes mural on the student union wall of CCSF in San Francisco

In recognition of her achievements, she received an honorary degree from Princeton University in May 2006. She was cited as follows: "Through her insatiable hunger of justice -La Causa- and her tireless advocacy, she has devoted her life to creative, compassionate, and committed citizenship".

In April 2006, Huerta was invited to speak at Tucson High School, "to inspire students," who were preparing for important tests. During her speech she "encouraged students to march in protest of federal lawmakers' attempt to crack down on illegal immigration," and twice stated that "Republicans hate Latinos". [1] Her speech was criticized by the school district's superintendent for containing "stereotyping groups".[2] and her comments were characterized as "hate speech" by Republican Arizona State Representative Jonathan Paton.[3]

Huerta has been married and divorced twice. She has 11 children.