A New York Times investigation has uncovered decades of sexual abuse by Cesar Chavez, the revered labor leader who built the United Farm Workers union. Women who were children at the time describe being molested by Chavez in the 1970s, including two underage girls who lived at the union's La Paz compound. The investigation reveals that Chavez also sexually assaulted Dolores Huerta, his co-founder, in 1966.

Chavez fathered at least four children outside his marriage while publicly maintaining his family image. The Times interviewed over 60 former union members and reviewed hundreds of pages of records to corroborate accounts from women who are speaking publicly for the first time. Reports of Chavez's behavior had circulated within the U.F.W. for years, with some relatives and former leaders aware of the misconduct as early as the 1980s.

Union members and supporters have long discussed the allegations in private. The revelations have already prompted the U.F.W. to cancel its annual birthday celebrations for Chavez and several cities to cancel planned parades. The investigation forces a reckoning with the complicated legacy of a man whose image as a civil rights hero has been central to Latino political identity for generations.