Dolores Huerta was born on April 10, 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico. She was the second oldest among her three siblings. Her parents, Alicia and Juan Fernandez, were both farm workers and miners. Unfortunately, her parents divorced when she was only three years old, afterwards her mother and her siblings moved to Stockon, California. So from then, she was helped by her grandparents.

Her motivation for doing what she does now was by the discrimination that she and her family received living in a new environment. One of her teachers was prejudiced against Hispanics; the school had also accused Huerta of cheating because her papers were too well-written. She had also experienced discrimination when white men brutally beat her brother for wearing a Zoot-Suit, which was known as a popular Latino fashion.

In 1955, she began her career as an activist when she co-founded the Stockton chapter of the Community Service Organization, CSO. Its mission was to focus on leading voter registration drives and fought for economic improvements for Hispanics. She had also founded the Agricultural Workers Association. In 1962, Huerta and Cesar Chávez founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) and the United Farm Workers’ Union (UFW). Later, she served as UFW vice president until 1999.

She wanted to advocate for safer working conditions including the elimination of harmful pesticides towards the workers. She also fought for unemployment and healthcare benefits for agricultural workers.