The Dallas City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved designating April 10 as Dolores Huerta Day while striking Cesar Chavez Day from the city’s official holiday list.
The action follows detailed sexual abuse accusations against Chavez, who died in 1993. The report included claims that he abused women and girls in the United Farm Workers movement, including Huerta. The breaking New York Times investigative report drew on interviews with more than 60 people and a review of union records and other internal documents.
Huerta said she experienced two separate coerced sexual encounters with Chavez and had two children with him, whom she arranged to be raised by other families for stable lives.
A six-signature memo from Council Members Adam Bazaldua, Jesse Moreno, Jaime Resendez, Laura Cadena, Paula Blackmon, and Gay Donnell Willis asked that all references to Chavez be removed from the city’s 2026 and future calendars.
Although many states and municipalities honored Chavez each year on his birthday, on March 31, the city of Dallas observed Cesar Chavez Day on the same day as Labor Day, the first Monday in September. From now on, that day will be referred to as Labor Day on City calendars.
In March, Gov. Greg Abbott declared that Texas would no longer observe Cesar Chavez Day and directed all state agencies to comply with the order.
A separate five-signature memo from Bazaldua, Resendez, Cadena, Blackmon, and Moreno called for recognizing Huerta on her birthday.
Both resolutions passed unanimously, two days before Huerta’s 96th birthday.
“Her story reminds us that behind many of our greatest movements are individuals who have had to navigate pain while still pushing forward change for others and generations to come,” Bazaldua said, KERA News reported.
Huerta co-founded the United Farm Workers movement and remains an active labor leader and feminist activist fighting for fair wages and working conditions.
Cadena praised Huerta’s legacy as a trailblazer.
“As a Latina leader, she broke barriers and spaces where women, especially Latinas, were often excluded,” Cadena said, per KERA. “Proving that leadership rooted in courage and community can transform lives.”
Cadena added, “I just want to take the opportunity to say what a privilege it is to recognize Dolores Huerta. She was a renowned American labor leader, civil rights activist, and feminist whose work has advanced the rights of farmworkers, women, and marginalized communities across the United States, and her work has definitely had an impact on my own life.”
The council resolutions did not address renaming Cesar Chavez Boulevard. The six-signature memo, however, recommended beginning a broader discussion about renaming the downtown roadway. Bazaldua said he and other members are working on that effort.
Dallas resident Soraya Santos said her immediate reaction to the accusations was, “We can’t have his name in the middle of downtown.”
She called the new Huerta holiday an important step for the city and especially for young Latinas.
“I don’t know that it would have happened otherwise, or certainly not as quickly,” Santos said, KERA reported. “But if we had to learn about this, these awful things that happened regarding Cesar Chavez and particularly Senora Huerta, if that’s what opened the door for this to happen, then maybe it can be something positive to come out of it.”
