Just days before the Cesar Chavez Day celebrations are set to kick off on March 31, the labor icon’s legacy has been hit by a major controversy. At the center of it is Dolores Huerta – another American leader icon who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Chavez in the 1970s.
On Wednesday, Huerta said that she was sexually abused by César Chávez in the 1960s and 1970s. Though Huerta is the most high-profile figures to accuse Chávez of sexual abuse, the New York Times revealed that the labor leader, who passed away in 1993, abused multiple young girls.
“I carried this secret for as long as I did because building the movement and securing farmworker rights was my life’s work,” Huerta said, revealing the allegations in a blog post on Wednesday.
The allegations have brought into focus Dolores Huerta’s family life, her two husbands, her long-term relationship with César Chávez’s brother, Richard, and her 11 children.
In this article, we will take a look at what is known about them.
Dolores Huerta Husbands: Who Were Ralph Head and Ventura Huerta?
Dolores Huerta married Ralph Head, her first husband, while they were both studying at Delta College in Stockton, California. The exact date of their marriage is unknown, but it is believed to have been sometime in 1947 or 1948.
Their marriage was brief, lasting only for about three years, before they separated around 1953. They had two daughters: Celeste and Lori.
Into the 1950s, Huerta pursued her teaching credential and got involved with activism more and more. It was during this phase that she met her second husband, Ventura Huerta, a fellow Community Service Organization (CSO) member. Though their marriage ended in 1964, lasting less than a decade, she retained his last name for the rest of her life.
Dolores and Ventura Huerta had five children: Fidel, Emilio, Vincent, Alicia, and Angela.
Over Seven-Decade Long Relationship With Richard Chavez
Huerta met both César Chávez and his brother Richard Chávez through their shared activism in thein the late 1950s. Her romantic relationship with Richard began in her early 40s, around the early 1970s. Though they never married, they remained lifelong partners till Richard’s death in 2011. They had four children: Juana, Maria Elena, Ricard and Camila
Notably, Huerta joined the CSO’s Stockton chapter around 1955 after attending a house meeting led by organizer Fred Ross.
