The Latino labor activist Cesar Chavez has been revered as one of the most influential civil rights leaders in American history. He led the fight to secure better wages and benefits for farmworkers over decades of work in California before his death in 1993.
But a New York Times investigation has revealed allegations that Mr. Chavez sexually abused young girls and raped Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers union with him. The findings have reverberated through the country because of Mr. Chavez’s stature as a Mexican American icon whose name is attached to schools, street names, university buildings and more.
Here’s what we know about the revelations and their impact.
Women say they were abused over many years.
At least three women, who had not come forward until recently, accused Mr. Chavez of sexually abusing them.
Two of them, Ana Murguia and Debra Rojas, both 66 years old now, said Mr. Chavez abused them as underage girls. Both were daughters of longtime activists in the United Farm Workers.
Ms. Murguia said Mr. Chavez began to molest her when she was 13 years old and told her to keep it secret. She was summoned for dozens of sexual encounters that lasted until she was 17.
The first time Mr. Chavez molested Ms. Rojas was when she was 12 years old, she said. When she was 15, he arranged for her to stay at a motel with him and had intercourse with her — rape, under California law.
Mr. Chavez’s accusers also include Ms. Huerta, who was also a leading figure in the U.F.W. She said that in 1966, when she was 36, Mr. Chavez drove her out to a secluded grape field in California and raped her. Six years earlier, she said, she felt pressured to have sex with him in a hotel room during a work trip.
Both of those relations resulted in the births of two girls, a fact that Ms. Huerta, now 95, concealed for nearly 60 years, she said.
Over all, the Times investigation showed, at least a dozen women described being pursued, and some sexually harassed, by Mr. Chavez. Some of them chose to go public with their stories, while others preferred to remain anonymous.
Who was Cesar Chavez?
Mr. Chavez gained prominence as a labor leader and activist who fought for better pay and working conditions for farmworkers in the 1960s.
He was born just outside Yuma, Ariz., in 1927 and moved to California when he was 11 years old, where he and his family became migrant farmworkers.
Mr. Chavez began his political activism by registering farmworkers to vote. He also organized strikes and boycotts in an effort to gain more rights for them. In 1966, the year he co-founded the group that became the United Farm Workers, he drew national attention leading a 300-mile march to the California capital to show his support for farmworkers striking against California grape growers.
This later led growers and farmers to sign their first contracts with unions. Mr. Chavez also participated in three hunger strikes in his lifetime as part of the nonviolent tactics he preached. In February 1968, he began a fast that lasted nearly a month.
Mr. Chavez’s activism also led to the passage of the California Agricultural Labor Relations Act of 1975, which recognized the rights of farmworkers to organize, form unions and collectively bargain contracts with their employers.
The union contracts he helped foster and the public pressure he mounted also helped improve working conditions for farmworkers, such as providing clean drinking water and toilets in the fields and ending the use of some toxic pesticides that were harmful to workers.
His charisma inspired Latinos throughout the country. A year after his death in 1993, he was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
The fallout over the revelations has been swift.
The women’s revelations shook communities across the nation, as politicians and other civic leaders grappled with how to respond to the accusations of abuse by a man who had been hailed for decades as a hero, especially to many Hispanic people.
Across the country, schools and streets are named after him, cities have annually celebrated his birthday (March 31) and California had named a state holiday to honor him.
The state of Arizona became the first to stop recognizing his birthday as a holiday. And California lawmakers said on Thursday that they intended to change the name of Cesar Chavez Day to “Farmworkers Day.”
Several parades celebrating his birthday were canceled throughout the country in cities like Austin, Texas, and Tucson, Ariz., where there are large Latino populations.
Local leaders in other cities were considering more complicated changes, such as renaming streets, parks and schools named after Mr. Chavez.
Christina Morales is a national reporter for The Times.
The post What to Know About the Sexual Abuse Allegations Against Cesar Chavez appeared first on New York Times.
