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Arts & Culture

INDEPENDENT LENS: Dolores

Dolores Huerta press conference (1975).
Courtesy of Courtesy of Walter P. Reuther Library Archives of Labor / Urban Affairs Wayne State University
Dolores Huerta press conference (1975).

Stream now with KPBS Passport or tune in Monday, July 6, 2020 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV + Friday, July 10 at 9 p.m. on KPBS 2

Meet the indomitable Dolores Huerta, who has tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice

“Exhilarating, inspiring and deeply emotional”The Washington Post

One of the most important, yet least known activists of our time, Dolores Huerta was an equal partner in founding the first farm workers union with César Chávez.

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Tirelessly leading the fight for racial and labor justice, Huerta evolved into one of the most defiant feminists of the 20th century — and she continues the fight to this day, at 87.

Directed by Peter Bratt, and produced by Bratt and Brian Benson, “Dolores” premiered on INDEPENDENT LENS in March 2018.

With unprecedented access to this intensely private mother of 11, “Dolores” chronicles Huerta’s life from her childhood in Stockton to her early years with the United Farm Workers, from her work with the headline-making grape boycott launched in 1965 to her role in the feminist movement of the 70s to her continued work as a fearless activist.

Featuring interviews with Gloria Steinem, Luis Valdez, Hillary Clinton, Angela Davis, her children and more, “Dolores” is an intimate and inspiring portrait of a passionate champion of the oppressed and an indomitable woman willing to accept the personal sacrifices involved in committing one’s life to social change.

“In the 1970s, the national grape boycott that Dolores Huerta helped organize played out in the small rural Minnesota farming community where I grew up — supported by our Catholic church along with tens of thousands of religious organizations across the country,” said Lois Vossen, INDEPENDENT LENS executive producer. “More than 40 years later, Dolores is still an indefatigable architect for social change on behalf of poor, underrepresented people, urging them to seek self-determination with her refrain ‘Si Se Puede’ (‘Yes We Can’).”

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Dolores Huerta at the Delano Strike in 1966.
Courtesy of Photo by Jon Lewis, courtesy of LeRoy Chatfield
Dolores Huerta at the Delano Strike in 1966.

Huerta continues to work tirelessly developing leaders and advocating for the working poor, women and children as founder and president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation.

She was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in March of 2013 and has received numerous awards including The Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Clinton in 1998, Ladies Home Journal’s “100 Most Important Woman of the 20th Century,” and nine Honorary Doctorates from U.S. universities.

In 2012, President Obama bestowed on Huerta her most prestigious award, The Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Dolores Huerta speaks at the podium, c1970s.
Courtesy of Courtesy of Walter P. Reuther Library Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs Wayne State University
Dolores Huerta speaks at the podium, c1970s.

Watch On Your Schedule:

This film is currently available to stream on demand with KPBS Passport.

Episodes are available for viewing on demand for a limited time after each broadcast. Extend your viewing window with KPBS Passport, video streaming for members supporting KPBS at $60 or more yearly, using your computer, smartphone, tablet, Roku, AppleTV, Amazon Fire or Chromecast. Learn how to activate your benefit now.

Join The Conversation:

INDEPENDENT LENS is on Facebook, Instagram, and you can follow @IndependentLens on Twitter. #IndieLensPBS #DoloresPBS

"Doloras" film is on facebook, Instagram, and you can follow @Dolores_Movie on Twitter. #DoloresHuerta #DoloresTheMovie

Dolores Huerta Foundation is on Facebook, and you can follow @DoloresHuerta on Twitter.

Credits:

Written and Directed by Peter Bratt. Produced by Brian Benson and Peter Bratt. Executive Producers: Carlos Santana, Regina K. Scully and Janet Macgillivray Wallace. Co-written and Edited by Jessica Congdon. Archival Producer: Jennifer Petrucelli. Associate Producer: Angelica Santana. Consulting Producers: Benjamin Bratt and Alpita Patel. Director of Photography: Jesse Dana. Music by Mark Kilian. Sound Design: Bob Edwards. Music Supervisor: Brooke Wentz. Executive Producer for INDEPENDENT LENS: Lois Vossen.