SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KRON) — Labor and civil rights leader Dolores Huerta will lie in honor at the California State Capitol on Monday, Nov. 16, giving the public an opportunity to remember her decades of advocacy for farmworkers and their families.
Members of the public are invited to pay their respects from noon to 6 p.m., Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón announced Thursday.
Huerta died Oct. 28 at age 96.
She was born on April 10, 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico. Huerta grew up in Stockton and began her career as a teacher.
FILE - Honoree Dolores Huerta attends The Albies hosted by the Clooney Foundation for Justice at the New York Public Library on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, file)
In 1962, Huerta and César Chávez founded the National Farm Workers Association, an organization that later merged with another labor group to form the United Farm Workers. She helped lead the Delano Grape Strike, which began in 1965 with a walkout by predominantly Filipino farmworkers, and organized a nationwide grape boycott that brought attention to conditions in California's fields.
Her organizing and lobbying helped secure passage of California's Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which established farmworkers' right to organize and bargain collectively for better wages and working conditions.
Huerta's advocacy extended to women's rights, immigrant communities and people living in poverty. Her rallying cry, "Sí, se puede," became a lasting call to action for generations of activists. President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
She established the Dolores Huerta Foundation in 2003, continuing her work by helping residents organize, register voters and develop community leaders.
Dolores Huerta poses for a portrait to promote the film, "Dolores", at the Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, Jan. 20, 2017, in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)
Rivas recalled a personal connection to Huerta's work, saying she negotiated his grandfather's first union contract at Almaden Vineyards.
"She spent her life helping people discover what they could win when they stood together," Rivas said.
Limón described Huerta as a national leader in workplace rights whose influence would continue through the workers, advocates and communities she inspired.
The legislative leaders' offices said additional information about the Capitol tribute will be released in the coming days.
