Dolores Huerta, labor rights leader and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, has died at age 96. Huerta frequently advocated for Cal Poly to become a Hispanic Serving Institution.
Huerta died of cancer on Wednesday in her Bakersfield home, according to family spokespeople via social media.
She spent 71 years of her life as an activist, after she got her start in 1955 by creating the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization. According to the obituary released by the Dolores Huerta Foundation, she continued to work with the foundation, march in protests and speak out about civil rights matters up until death.
Huerta visited Cal Poly in 2023 to give the keynote address at the university’s first Hispanic Serving Institution Symposium.
READ MORE: ‘Activism is when you make history’: Dolores Huerta gives keynote address at Cal Poly
In her address, she spoke of the importance of education and committing Cal Poly to honoring their promise to uplift different cultures.
“Education is when people see opportunity, and follow their dreams,” Huerta said during her 2023 speech. “It’s extremely important for people to hear stories of themselves in the classroom, not only so students can feel seen and heard, but so they can begin to break down racism in our society.”
Monica Sebastian, a biomedical engineering sophomore, said Huerta’s work resonated with her.
“She did so many great things in her life. She should be honored,” she said.
Huerta began her career as an educator before transitioning to labor activism. In the 2017 PBS documentary, Dolores, she explained that as a full-time elementary teacher, she saw children of farmworkers arriving at school lacking food and other basic necessities. She said this inspired her to switch to activism to combat the poverty and exploitation migrant farmworker families faced.
Huerta and Cesar Chavez launched the National Farm Workers Association in 1962 to advocate for better working conditions for seasonal and agricultural workers in the California Central Valley, according to the Dolores Huerta Foundation.
Her work and boycotts with the organization contributed to the political climate that led to the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which granted California farmworkers the right to collective bargaining and unionization.
Her work earned her numerous accolades related to social justice, including induction into the California Hall of Fame, the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.