Overlooked Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement: Dolores Huerta

                           Dolores Huerta coined the famous term, Si Se Puede.

Huerta speaking at a United Farm Workers rally in Salinas, CA, in 1970. Bob Fitch Photography Archive, Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries

Dolores Huerta was born on April 10, 1930, in the small mining town of Dawson, New Mexico, and raised in Stockton. She was a composed, dignified labor activist, feminist, mother, and graduate of the College of the Pacific. Being raised by her diligent, migrant father and her self-sufficient, entrepreneur mother, her resilience served a crucial part in the Chicano Movement and its achievements. Both of her parents were active citizens involved in civic organizations— her mother welcomed low-wage workers in her hotel while her father was a union activist, even taking political office in the New Mexico legislature in 1938. Her parents' involvement inspired and influenced her to be just as, if not more, active in reforming the community.  As social and racial oppressions are being brought to light in the 60s, Huerta was applying pressure on labor issues within the community. She became the co-founder of the first farm workers union in 1962 with César Chávez, making important contributi...