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Who Is Dolores Huerta?
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 mining
town 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 farm worker 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 farm workers 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 farm workers' 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.
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".
She has been designated as the co-recipient of the 2007 Community of Christ International Peace Award along with Virgilio Elizondo.
On May 18 2007 she announced her endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president. Huerta has been married and divorced twice. She has 11 children.