Dolores Huerta died at the age of 96, according to reports. A family spokesperson stated that cancer was the cause of death.
Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers and helped lead the 1965 Delano grape strike. In 1962, she and Cesar Chavez established the National Farm Workers Association.
Born Dolores Clara Fernández on 10 April 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico, she became a mother to 11 children. Huerta once revealed that Cesar Chavez raped her in a secluded grape field in 1966, stating, "My silence ends here."
A police officer struck Huerta with a baton in San Francisco in 1988. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
California designated 10 April as Dolores Huerta Day in 2018. Gregory Nava and Barbara Martinez Jitner are currently preparing a dramatic feature film about her life.
Nava, who was nominated for an Oscar for original screenplay for El Norte in 1983, wrote and directed the new film. The films El Norte, Mi Familia, and Selena are currently in the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
