Dolores Huerta, a civil rights icon and labor union leader, died Wednesday at the age of 96 in Bakersfield, California. Her family stated that she passed away at home surrounded by her close family.
Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers union alongside Cesar Chavez to improve working conditions and pay for the nation's mostly Latino fruit and vegetable field workers. Through strikes, boycotts, and protests in the 1960s and 1970s, she fought powerful growers and legislators to empower a previously powerless constituency, changing the course of the labor movement.
A dedicated feminist and activist, Huerta coined the enduring rallying cry "Sí, se puede!", which later inspired former US president Barack Obama's "Yes we can" slogan. Her lifelong advocacy extended beyond labor to include the fight for race, poverty, LGBTQ, and women's rights.
Huerta remained an active campaigner into her 90s, rallying migrant workers against Donald Trump's immigration raids. Her decades of work and commitment to civil rights earned her numerous accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.