SACRAMENTO — Californians will get their chance to say goodbye to Dolores Huerta at the State Capitol. The labor and civil rights leader, who died Oct. 28 at 96, will lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda on Monday, Nov. 16, legislative leaders announced.
Senate President pro Tem Monique Limón and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said the rotunda will be open to the public from noon to 6 p.m., with a midday program still being planned.
For Speaker Rivas, the honor is personal. Huerta negotiated his grandfather’s first union contract at Almaden Vineyards. “She brought to that bargaining table what she brought to every fight,” Speaker Rivas said: a belief that farmworkers deserved fair pay, dignity and a say in their own working conditions.
Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which became the United Farm Workers, helped lead the Delano grape strike and boycott, and pushed through the 1975 law that gave California farmworkers the right to bargain collectively. She also worked alongside Black civil rights leaders throughout her life, and “Sí, se puede” became a rallying cry far beyond the fields.
Bakersfield, where she lived and organized for decades, will hold its own farewell:
- Thursday, Nov. 19, 6 p.m.: Rosary and vigil at IBEW Local 428 Hall, 3921 Sillect Ave.
- Friday, Nov. 20, 8 a.m.: Blessing by Aztec dancers at Dignity Health Arena, 1001 Truxtun Ave.
- Friday, Nov. 20, 10 a.m.: Interfaith memorial service at the arena.
- Friday, Nov. 20, 2 p.m.: Celebration of life with speakers from labor, government and the community, and a performance by Los Lobos.
California Black Media contributed to this report.
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