Civil rights icon Cesar Chavez, celebrated for his decades-long advocacy for farm workers’ rights, is facing serious allegations of sexual abuse involving women and minors. The claims, detailed in a New York Times investigation, include accounts from his former co-founder Dolores Huerta and two other women who say Chavez groomed and abused girls involved in the labor movement.
Dolores Huerta, 95, said two encounters with Chavez in the 1960s resulted in pregnancies she kept secret, arranging for the children to be raised by other families. “I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work,” she said.
Two other women, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, both 66, told The New York Times that Chavez sexually abused them over several years as girls, from roughly 1972 to 1977, when he was in his 40s.
In response to the allegations, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and city council members signed a proclamation renaming “Cesar Chavez Day” as “Farm Workers Day.” “The sickening reality is that what Dolores, Ana, and Debra endured is not isolated, nor is it of the past,” Bass said.
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In Washington, D.C., Chavez’s portrait was removed from the U.S. Department of Labor, with a U.S. flag now covering his name at the entrance. At a Chavez memorial in Stockton, California, a sign was placed over the plaque reading: “believe women and children.” Events marking Cesar Chavez Day, observed annually on March 31, have been cancelled or renamed.
California Governor Gavin Newsom said the farm workers’ and broader labor movements are “much bigger than one man” and voiced support for “courageous women” like Huerta, noting he is open to renaming the holiday. Republican Assemblywoman Alexandra Macedo has filed legislation to officially change the day to Farmworker Day. The allegations have drawn widespread condemnation, including from the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC).
“No individual, regardless of stature or legacy, is above accountability when it comes to protecting and upholding the dignity of others,” LULAC said.
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The Cesar Chavez Foundation also acknowledged being aware of “disturbing allegations” of inappropriate sexual behavior by Chavez during his leadership of the United Farm Workers. The foundation said it was “deeply shocked and saddened” and is working with farm worker leaders “to be responsive to these allegations” and support those who may have been harmed.
Chavez, who died in 1993 at the age of 66, is remembered for leading California farmworkers from the 1950s onward, organizing national boycotts and marches, and fighting for better working conditions. The revelations now cast a shadow over his legacy and are prompting widespread reassessment of how the labor movement commemorates its leaders.