Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association and helped lead the United Farm Workers, died Wednesday at 96, The 19th reported in an account carried by Minnesota Reformer¹.

Born in New Mexico and raised as an organizer in California's Central Valley, she left classroom teaching to work with farmworker families and later helped organize the Delano grape strike that began in 1965¹.

The 19th credited her with the Spanish-language chant Sí se puede, a slogan later used by other U.S. politicians, and said she was the lead negotiator on grape contracts even as public attention often centered on Cesar Chavez¹.

She served as UFW vice president until 1999, helped found the Coalition of Labor Union Women, and later worked with the Feminist Majority Foundation; President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012¹.

In March 2026 she publicly described sexual assaults by Chavez, saying she had stayed silent to protect the movement, according to The 19th's obituary¹.

Nevada Current reported tributes from state lawmakers and the Nevada AFL-CIO, and noted a North Las Vegas resource center named for her².

A 2025 Nevada bill to proclaim April 10 Dolores Huerta Day passed with bipartisan support and was vetoed by Gov. Joe Lombardo, who said additional commemorative days need not be written into law².

The Dolores Huerta Foundation, co-founded with her daughter Camila Chavez, remains active in grassroots organizing, The 19th said¹.