Born April 10, 1930
Dawson, New Mexico

Union organizer, lobbyist,
and political activist

Dolores Huerta. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

Born and raised among poor immigrant laborers, Dolores Huerta devoted her life to improving the lives of working people. An energetic and courageous activist, Huerta helped start the first national union for farmworkers. She sought to ensure passage of many laws to protect the lowest paid and least powerful workers. Along with tireless union organizing and raising eleven children, mostly as a single mother, she worked on many other social issues. These included civil rights, women's rights, environmental protection, and support for the poor. Although she was beaten up and arrested for her political activism and fought her way back from serious illness, Huerta continued to devote herself to the fight against injustice. In 2004, she won a $100,000 Creative Citizen Award from the Puffin Foundation. She donated...