Dolores Huerta, farmworker and civil rights activist, dies at 96

Dolores Huerta, arguably the nation's best-known Latina civil rights leader, has died, her family said in a statement.

The labor leader was the co-founder, with Cesar Chavez, of the United Farm Workers (UFW), the first nationally recognized union for farmworkers.

An inspiration to generations of Americans, Huerta spent decades fighting labor injustices and political, racial and gender inequalities.

Huerta was “the most famous Latina that has ever been in the labor movement, and the renown was well-earned,” said Matthew J. Garcia, professor at Dartmouth College and author of the 2014 book “From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement.”

“She was extraordinary,” he said.

In her UFW heyday, Huerta cut a striking figure, a fierce young Latina shouting through a bullhorn, rallying workers and leading marches. This was a rare sight at a time when Hispanic people had yet to become a political force. She was the embodiment of a “Chicana,” a politically active Mexican American woman claiming her own power.

Though she was most famous for her leadership in the United Farm Workers, Huerta was committed to social and political activism throughout her life, supporting voting rights, immigrant rights, environmental…

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