Although Huerta proved herself as an invaluable party at the bargaining table, there was pushback to her unconventional outlook on activism.
As UFW’s vice president, she took on key union leadership roles atypical of women at the time and faced resistance from male colleagues.
There was also debate on her sacrifice of her 11 children, who she often left behind for months at a time while on the road as the movement became her first priority.
Huerta at negotiations with Gallo wine.
(Walter P. Reuther Library, 1973)
Huerta (right) and some of her children at the UFW Hall.
(George Ballis, late 1960s)
Called “Dragon Lady” by growers, Huerta built a reputation for herself as a skilled and unyielding negotiator who never backed down from her principles.
Her use of civil resistance as a form of diplomacy effectively applied social and economic pressure on growers, corporations, and governments to acknowledge the plight of farmworkers and protect their unionization rights.
An emphasis on nonviolence and community self-help lent power to the cause, building the foundations for the strategy of the Chicano movement that fought for causes for Mexican-Americans like political empowerment, land repatriation, and ending discrimination in schools.
“You may have to have five meetings to change two words…[Cesar Chavez] never really quite trusted what I did until he started to negotiate himself; then he found it was pretty hard to get the kind of language that I had gotten, and he started respecting what I had done.” - Dolores Huerta
In 2012, Huerta was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US.
Huerta presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
(Alex Wong, 2014.)
Through her fierce and tireless work in the California farmworkers movement, Huerta helped not only to gain collective bargaining rights for farmworkers but also to shape a perception of pride and dignity in farm labor and Mexican-American heritage as a whole. Today, she is still devoted to fighting for social justice and nurturing the next generation of activists.
Huerta. (Scott Dudelson, 2019)
Her famous slogan, “Sí se puede,” is now UFW’s motto, serving as a reminder of the power of nonviolence, diplomacy, and resistance to energize a movement and create lasting social change.
“Working for a cause is the baptism of fire. Being involved is good, because then you lose all types of fear. Then what really happens is you become strong.” - Dolores Huerta