Dolores Huerta, labor activist and civil rights icon, has died at the age of 96, her family announced Wednesday morning.
Details about her death were not disclosed.
“As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for us, and we ask for privacy as we grieve this incredible loss to our family. We know that many of you around the world share in our mourning, and we will be following up on plans to recognize and celebrate her incredible life and legacy,” her family’s statement read.
Huerta was born in New Mexico and raised by a single mother in California’s San Joaquin Valley, where she worked as a school teacher and then helped found a local chapter of a grassroots organization that fought segregation and police brutality.
She quickly turned her interests to farm laborers and co-founded with César Chavez what eventually became the United Farm Workers of America.
Huerta’s resolve cemented her place in history as one of the nation’s most influential labor leaders, civil rights icons and feminist activists. Her three-word Spanish-language slogan — which translates to “Yes, it can be done” — was grounded in the belief that people could affect change.
Her work over the decades earned her a number of accolades, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. When then-President Barack Obama presented the award in 2012, he praised Huerta as a tenacious leader and joked that he had stolen her slogan for his 2008 campaign.
Earlier this year, Huerta revealed that she was sexually abused in the 1960s by Chavez. She opened up about her allegations against Chavez in an interview with ABC News’ John Quiñones.
According to Huerta, Chavez pressured her to have sex with him when she was in her 20s and later raped her. She said she had two children as a result of the encounters and arranged for both to be raised by other families.
From the early 1970s on, Huerta’s life partner was Richard Chavez, César’s brother, and together they had four kids. She also had seven children from two earlier marriages.
Huerta said she stayed silent for so long because she feared that coming forward would compromise her life’s work and unravel all the progress made for workers.
Even into her mid-90s, Huerta marched and spoke in cities nationwide on race, poverty and women’s rights on behalf of her California-based Dolores Huerta Foundation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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