In Conversation - Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta, American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association (which later became the United Farm Workers) will join NPC President Michael Freedman to discuss the Dolores Huerta Foundation, current efforts to gain Senate passage of the HEROES act, and the Latino vote on Monday, November 2 at 6 p.m.

This 1-hour program will stream live at www.press.org and on the NPC's YouTube Channel, and is free and accessible to both the media and members of the general public. Viewers are invited to submit their questions in advance or during the livestream by emailing their queries to [email protected].

The event is organized by the National Press Club’s Events Committee.

To the US Latino, feminist, and labor union communities, Dolores Huerta is a venerated icon. The states of California, Washington and Kansas recognize her birthday, April 10th, as Dolores Huerta Day. She is the subject of Mexican American corridos (ballads) and murals; streets, schools and plazas carry her name. In community, she is simply “Dolores.”  In 2012, when President Barack Obama honored Dolores with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he thanked her for graciously allowing him to translate her “Si Se Puede” call to action for his campaign slogan, “Yes, We Can.” 

Dolores and Cesar Chavez are best known for spearheading a national farmworker movement that captivated the nation.  By the early 1960s they organized the historic national boycott of grapes and later lettuce, attracting civic leaders, celebrities’ young activists throughout the nation. Their United Farmworkers of America (UFW) for the first time brought such issues as decent pay, health care and protection against poisonous pesticides to the negotiation table. Dolores was the first woman to sit at the negotiating table with the agricultural corporate leaders. She was able to get growers to agree to the nation’s first farmworker contracts. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy supported their work and became a friend.

Dolores was featured in Karenna Gore’s 2006 book, Lighting the Way: Nine Women Who Shaped Modern America, a profile of nine modern and historical American women. The 2017 critically acclaimed documentary, Dolores, Dolores chronicles Huerta’s life from her childhood in Stockton, California to her early years with the United Farm Workers, from her work with the headline-making grape boycott launched in 1965 to her role in the feminist movement of the '70s, to her continued work as a fearless activist.  Her tireless fight for racial and labor justice led to her becoming “one of the most defiant feminists of the 20th century.”  The producers, called it a “superhero movie” and said that "Huerta is truly an American pioneer who has affected great change in the United States, among the most important, yet least-known, activists in American history. "

At 90, she continues to lead at the frontlines.  Forced to abandon her relentless travel schedule, she now works at home. Her 12-hour days are dedicated to interviews, building the Dolores Huerta Foundation and current efforts to gain Senate passage of the HEROES act, push voter registration and voter turnout. The Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF) provides information and assistance for community members in need of economic relief and ongoing food banks which have distributed over 23,000 pounds of food to families.

Staff provide hands on training for low-income immigrants in California’s Kern, Tulare, Fresno and Northern Los Angeles Counties, developing the perspectives and skills to strategically advocate for policy change and resources for the betterment of their communities. DHF is focused on eliminating the school to prison pipeline, increasing census 2020 participation in “hard-to-count communities,” and increasing voter registration and turnout amongst new and infrequent voters.

DHF has launched a capital campaign to build the Dolores Huerta Peace and Justice Center multi-cultural community center complex in downtown Bakersfield, California. The campus will also provide a permanent location in Kern County to honor the historic civil rights legacy of the civil rights leader as well as, honor the contributions of immigrants and San Joaquin Valley residents such as Native Americans, African -Americans, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Mexican Braceros, Okies, Indo-Americans and the farm workers who have made tremendous contributions to California's rich agricultural economy.