Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta (born 1930) has devoted her life to improving the lives of farm workers. An activist since high school, she and César Chávez co-founded what became the United Farm Workers (UFW).
In 1965, grape pickers in the Delano area struck for better wages and working conditions. Huerta helped organize, and a year later became the first woman in U.S. history to negotiate a labor contract for farm workers. The marches and boycotts she led forced nearly the entire grape industry to sign an agreement with the UFW in 1970.
In 1975, Huerta’s lobbying helped pass landmark legislation giving California farm workers the right to organize.