Dolores Huerta, pioneering labor leader and civil rights icon, dies at 96

(CNN, KYMA) - Dolores Huerta, a pioneering labor organizer and civil rights icon who cofounded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in the 1960s, died at 96, her family said in a statement Wednesday.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved mother, Dolores Huerta, has passed away today," the statement said.

Dolores Clara Fernandez was born April 10, 1930, in Dawson, New Mexico. After her parents divorced, Huerta and her siblings were raised by their mother, Alicia, a businesswoman and active member of their agricultural community.

Huerta devoted much of her life to improving working conditions for farmworkers and championing the rights of marginalized communities. Yet her contributions to the farmworkers' movement were long overshadowed by those of Cesar Chavez.

Earlier this year, Huerta revealed to The New York Times that in 1966, at the height of the UFW's boycott, Chavez allegedly drove her to a secluded grape field in Delano, California, and raped her.

Huerta told the Times she didn't report the attack or a previous incident in 1960 where she said Chavez pressured her into having sex with him during a work trip because of police attitudes toward their movement, and because she feared no one in their union would believe her.