US civil rights leader Dolores Huerta dies aged 96

US civil rights leader Dolores Huerta has died at the age of 96, her family has announced.

Huerta campaigned alongside fellow labour leader Cesar Chavez for farm workers' rights in the 1960s and 1970s, founding the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) with him.

Through her foundation, Huerta had continued her activism work addressing immigration and voting issues.

"As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for us, and we ask for privacy as we grieve this incredible loss to our family," family spokesman Erik Olvera said on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Huerta said Chavez, who died in 1993, had "manipulated and pressured" her into having sex and on another occasion forced her in the 1960s.