Dolores Fernandez Huerta is a Mexican immigrant who moved to Stockton, California at age 3 with her mother and brothers. Her mother, Alicia, saved for years to buy a small hotel where she offered rooms at low rates to immigrants. Alicia encouraged her daughter to become involved in community affairs from an early age. Her mother’s generosity and gentleness inspired and provided a foundation for Dolores who also noticed that her mom was a good businesswoman and active in church and civic organizations.
Dolores’ belief that society needed to be changed came from the experience of being marginalized because she was Hispanic. This led to her life’s work as a civil rights activist and lifelong pursuit to alter the economic and civil rights injustices around her. Her willingness to serve on behalf of the migrant farm workers and low income community inspired a groundswell of support as she fought alongside the workers for economic improvement, healthcare, and voting rights. These efforts changed the direction of Dolores’s life and she left teaching to become a community organizer.
While working for the Stockton Community Service Organization (CSO), she founded the Agricultural Workers Association and set up voter drives. Through CSO, she met Cesar Chavez, and they launched the National Farm Workers Association, which later became United Farm Workers. Chavez could rally a crowd, and Huerta was a talented speaker, organizer, and negotiator. Through lobbying, she obtained unemployment and disability insurance for farm workers, reduced harmful pesticides, and helped to bring about the Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975.
While directing a boycott, Dolores met Gloria Steinem in New York. The feminist movement rallied behind Dolores, and she began to focus on eradicating gender discrimination. From the beginning, Dolores insisted on nonviolence, but at age 58, she was attacked by a policeman with a baton and almost died. Community outrage led to a change in San Francisco police policies. After a long recovery, Dolores went on a speaking tour, advocating for women running for office.
In 2012, Dolores accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama and stated, “The great social justice changes in our country have happened when people came together, organized, and took direct action.” At age 94, Dolores continues to work with campaign leaders on legislation that supports equality, civil rights, and social justice.