Southeast Seattle Community Celebrates 95th Birthday of Dolores Huerta, National Farmworker Organizer

April 10 was the 95th birthday of farmworker organizer Dolores Huerta. Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and United Farm Workers (UFW) have been a fixture in the U.S. labor organizing landscape since the 1960s. Founded in 1962 by Huerta and Cesar Chavez, UFW was the first to secure collective bargaining rights on the mainland U.S. and has advocated for safer working conditions, better pay, and labor protections. It has also educated policymakers and the public about the harms of pesticides on the environment and on people. Huerta's service over the decades has encompassed human rights issues, including immigrant rights and environmental activism.

Washington State, King County, and Seattle have proclaimed April 10 "Dolores Huerta Day." In observance of Huerta's recent birthday, South Enders recalled her impact on their lives.

Doris and Judith Mercado

Doris Mercado sat at a bright white counter in her sister's kitchen in Renton next to a glass jar of bright-pink pan dulce. Doris, 12, reflected on the phrase, "Si se puede" which Dolores Huerta is credited with coining during a fasting strike by Cesar Chavez. Doris said, "'Si se puede' means anything is possible if you don't give up. If you struggle or fail, you try again until you find the best way. It helps me ask for help when I struggle to get through [challenges] in school."

Next to Doris Mercado at the kitchen counter sat her sister, Judith Mercado, a Latino youth and family support specialist at Youth Eastside Services. The sisters chatted about Doris' fifth-grade teacher who taught the class about Dolores Huerta and the "Si se puede" phrase. The teacher came from a farmworker background. Judith said she dreamed of being a teacher and was moved when she heard Huerta's reasons for quitting teaching to turn to advocacy work. She read Huerta's quote out loud: "'I quit because I can't stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes. I thought I could do more by organizing farmworkers than by trying to teach their hungry children.'"

Judith said, "She [Huerta] was a mother raising eleven kids. She was organizing huelga [work strikes] and teaching people along the way. She taught me to say 'Basta' [Enough/Stop]."

Estela Ortega

Estela Ortega, El Centro de la Raza's cofounder and executive director, grew up in Texas, where, from 8 years old, she picked cotton, okra, and other vegetables with her brothers during the summer to help her family make ends meet. Later, between working to pay for college and classes, Ortega worked on political campaigns, registered voters, and participated in UFW's lettuce strike boycotts aimed to protect farmworkers.

In 1972, she came to Seattle and, with other activists, occupied the Beacon Hill School, the building that today houses El Centro de la Raza. The successful campaign to take over the school has led to a multitude of social service programs, child care programs, advocacy for social causes, and capital projects for affordable housing.

Ortega saw the enduring power in Huerta's work. "As an elder at 95, she gives perspective to young people that our struggle is long, and it takes time. But you work at it day in and day out. She works tirelessly and is committed to being involved in community. She inspires new generations to be involved in addressing the challenges our society faces."

Rev. Angela Ying

Rev. Angela Ying, Beacon Hill's Bethany United Church in Christ senior pastor, remembered meeting Huerta when her teenage daughter, alongside her peers, invited Huerta in 2019 to speak to a group of youth in Washington. "[The meeting] was in a simple building," Ying said. "There were over 200 teens and a lot of food. [Dolores Huerta] was 89 years old, teaching them how to organize."

Ying said Dolores told the youth, "Every moment is an organizing opportunity. Every person, a potential activist, every minute, a chance to change the world."

Seated at a table in the wood-paneled pastor's office, Ying said, "Here we are in South Seattle. Beacon Hill is 70% People of Color, and around 40% of our community is immigrants and refugees. It's so important we stand together. [Huerta] inspires people to recognize our humanity: That we are beloved, worthy, and we need to be heard."

Velma Veloria

South Ender Velma Veloria, the first Asian American woman elected as a Washington State representative (1993–2004) and a current consultant at the Filipino Community of Seattle's (FCS) Small Business Resiliency Network, recounted how she started following Huerta and UFW in the 1960s because Filipino farmworker organizers were key leaders in UFW. They laid the groundwork for farmworker organizers like Chavez and Huerta to found the organization. "There weren't many women of color taking the helm in labor organizing at the time," said Veloria. "When I came to Seattle for labor organizing, I looked up to her. She was working for the workers."

Veloria, a labor organizer originally from California, was sent to Seattle after the assassination of two local Filipino American cannery labor organizers, who represented about 1,500 cannery workers. She organized cannery workers in Alaska and participated in the Committee for Justice for the killed organizers.

Hear Their Words:

A number of local community members, including Doris and Judith Mercado, Rev. Angela Ying, and Velma Veloria participated in an audio poem project titled "No, I am Dolores" during the summer of 2024. (The author of this article also participated in the project.) The project was written and led by Magdaleno Rose-Avila, a human rights activist and farmworker organizer who worked directly with Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez. Locally, Rose-Avila was the inaugural director of Seattle's Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and former executive director of the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP).

Editors' Note: This article has been updated to correct several inaccuracies. Estela Ortega arrived in Seattle in 1972, not 1962. Velma Veloria was the first Asian American woman elected as a Washington state representative, not the first Asian American person elected. Additionally, Veloria organized cannery workers in Alaska, not from an office in Pioneer Square.

A previous version of this article misstated that Richard Chavez was the late husband of Dolores Huerta, when they were actually romantic partners who never married.