Dolores Huerta at 80

In May, StoryCorps traveled to the offices of the Dolores Huerta Foundation in Bakersfield, CA, to facilitate a conversation with Dolores Huerta and two of her daughters, Camila Chavez and Lori de Leon.

80 years young

Huerta is the co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union. She now heads her own foundation. In 1965, she and the late UFW president Cesar Chavez directed the great grape boycott, bringing the plight of the farm workers in California to the attention of the consumer. It was so successful that in its final days, it brought the California grape industry to its knees and grape growers signed a collective bargaining agreement with the UFW in 1970.

During her conversation with StoryCorps, this courageous labor leader recounted stories over her 80-year life. She remembered leaving the relative security of Salinas to organize in Delano and the shift in the mindset of her children when she did that.

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