Remembering pioneering labor leader and civil rights icon Dolores Huerta

Amna Nawaz:

Finally tonight, we remember the life and legacy of Dolores Huerta, the pioneering labor leader and civil rights icon. Huerta died today from cancer at her home in Bakersfield, California.

Leaders from around the country paid tribute, including in California, where flags were lowered to half-mast in her honor.

"Yes, we can," Dolores Huerta's belief and words that helped build a movement.

Dolores Huerta, Activist:

It means activism. It means that people can have the power to change things in their lives, change things politically, and it means that every person should feel their own power and know that they can make a difference.

Amna Nawaz:

Her rallying cry power at the United Farm Workers union and more widely, the labor and civil rights movements.

Dolores Clara Fernandez was born in 1930 in New Mexico. As a young schoolteacher in the San Joaquin Valley, her students' poverty inspired her to start organizing farmworkers, as she told the "News Hour"s Ray Suarez in 2012.

Dolores Huerta:

These children that were my classroom were the children of the Dust Bowls, the little Opie and Archie kids, and they were coming in there also and kind of hungry and threadbare. I thought that was so wrong. So I thought, well it's better to just get up and start organizing the farmworkers and I decided then to quit.

Amna Nawaz:

She eventually joined forces with Cesar Chavez in California's Central Valley to found what would become the United Farm Workers Union.

The union joined the Filipino workers' strike against grape growers over low wages and working conditions that lasted five years. As the union grew, it organized multiple major strikes and boycotts through the '60s and '70s, and it helped negotiate contracts with big growers to win benefits for those in the field, as chronicled in this 2017 documentary "Dolores."

Dolores Huerta:

We will take economic pressure, strikes, boycotts to force recognition and obtain collective bargaining rights. The social and the economic revolution of the farm workers is well under way, and it will not be up until we receive equality.

Amna Nawaz:

Geraldo Cadava, a professor of history and Latino studies at Northwestern University, says Huerta's presence on the ground was key to her emerging voice.

Geraldo Cadava, Northwestern University:

She was a huge kind of influence. She was on the ground from the beginning. She was knocking on doors with Cesar Chavez. She was visiting farm workers in their homes. She was with them in the fields. So she was a real fighter and leader and influencer within the movement.

Amna Nawaz:

She spent almost four decades as the union's vice president and as the second in command to the charismatic Chavez until his death in 1993.

But for decades, Huerta had kept a stunning secret to herself. Chavez had raped her during those early years. Huerta only went public earlier this year.

Dolores Huerta:

I had to protect the movement. I think that we accomplished a lot with the movement. So I don't know. Should I have spoken out sooner? I don't know. But at least I'm glad that I'm finally getting this off my chest finally.

Amna Nawaz:

An investigation from The New York Times found that Chavez had sexually abused multiple women, some of them children. Huerta told The Times that Cesar Chavez's assaults resulted in two pregnancies that she concealed, two children she gave up for adoption.

She later was in a long-term partnership with his brother, Richard Chavez, and had 14 children overall. The revelations shocked the world, especially many in the Latino community. Throughout her life's work, she suffered again and again. Huerta was jailed 22 times over union demonstrations and was once critically injured after she was beaten by police.

She was active in politics for decades as well, volunteering for Senator Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. Huerta was on stage with him when he was assassinated in 1968. Years later, she campaigned for Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden.

In 2012, President Obama awarded Huerta the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Barack Obama:

On a personal note, Dolores was very gracious when I told her I had stolen her slogan, "Si, se puede," "Yes, we can." Knowing her, I'm pleased that she let me off easy, because Dolores does not play.

(LAUGHTER)

Maria Teresa Kumar, Founder and Executive Director, Voto Latino: Dolores Huerta was a giant.

Amna Nawaz:

Maria Teresa Kumar is the president of the political organization Voto Latino. Huerta was a mentor of hers.

Maria Teresa Kumar:

When Voto Latino first started, one of the biggest challenges was how to navigate a space that didn't necessarily welcome women. This was after the first wave of anti-immigrant sentiment, and Dolores stepped up and she came to us and provided us counsel. She provided us cheering, she provided us strategy, and she provided us, I think, just generous, generous friendship.

Amna Nawaz:

Dolores Huerta never slowed down. The labor leader, civil rights icon, and feminist activist was still rallying well into her late 90s.

Dolores Huerta:

Every one of our segments of society that are trying to make positive change, that are fighting for social justice, this is what we have to do, come together, organize push back, take that direct action, and then we can make the world a better place.

Amna Nawaz:

Dolores Huerta was 96 years old.