Early childhood Jessie Lopez was born in Anaheim, California, in 1919 to parents Guadalupe Lopez and Fermin Fuentes. Lopez's birthfather is unknown, Fuentez was her step father who fled the country in 1931 after an altercation with another man. Lopez was the oldest of 3 daughters, and lived in a medium- to large-size extended family consisting of herself and her two sisters, Grandfather Basilio, Grandmother Rita, Mother Guadalupe, Uncle Edward, Uncle Dionisio, Aunt Dominga, Aunt Guillerma, Uncle Gregorio, Aunt (Referred to as sister because of their close age) Maria, and Basilo Jr. Lopez's mother, Guadalupe Lopez, was a native of Aguascalientes, Mexico and her birth father's background is unknown.
Working-class roots Lopez started working in Southern California fields in and around
Orange County, California, at 5 years old, doing such work as: pruning vines, picking oranges, peas, beets, prunes, cotton, and grapes. She resided in Anaheim until she was 9 years old, after which point her family began traveling as migrant field workers. Her family was poor, and worked in mostly agrarian labor jobs, but it is noted that one of her uncles was a street maker in Orange County during the development of the 1920s.
Education Even though Lopez was a laborer at an early age, she also attended school. She remembered attending 45 schools as her family moved as migrant workers in Los Angeles county and the San Gabriel and San Joaquin valleys, including Las Palmas School in Anaheim off and on from 1st to 3rd grade. In winter 1929, after returning to LA from Arvin, California, she attended 109th street elementary along with her siblings. She was the best English speaker in her house and assisted the other children with their schoolwork.
Tragedy in early life (1929–1933) Beginning in 1929, the Lopez family began migrating north for work. In that year, they arrived in Arvin, California, in the San Joaquin Valley and worked as a crew picking cotton. Her Aunt Maria, who Jessie recalled as her sister because of their close age and sister like relationship, was killed in a tragic accident when her dress caught fire, causing her to perish. In January 1930, her mother Guadalupe fell ill and was bedridden by February. She died on March 11, 1930, and was laid to rest in
Compton, California. After the death of their mother, Lopez and her sisters moved back to Anaheim with their grandparents. Her grandfather Basillo returned to cotton picking in the San Joaquin Valley to support them, but fell ill shortly after and died of
dropsy on June 14, 1930. The depression years were tough on the Lopez family. In 1931 they became migrant workers again, often sleeping roadside in a tent.
First experience with labor organizing In 1932 the Lopez family found themselves in San Clemente (on the Orange County/San Diego County border) picking snap peas for low pay; 10 cents per hour for adults and nothing for the children. Next they traveled to San Juan Capistrano to pick beans, and upon arrival the family saw what Lopez described as a "parade like" collection of workers. The family camped out near the field for two days and they observed the strike. A man from the Mexican Consulate came down to the field from Los Angeles to talk to the growers and the workers since many of them were Mexican. He asked Lopez for help with English translations since she was one of the only bilingual persons there. Lopez enjoyed this because she said she "felt useful" and she remembered it as her first experience in a labor dispute. They moved back to Anaheim, and in April 1933 the family lost the home that Grandfather Basilo built because they were unable to pay a $150 property tax. In 1933 the Lopez family relocated again to the San Joaquin Valley following the crops. Upon arrival to Arvin, California, fields they encountered another strike of hundreds of diverse farm workers, and instead of becoming scabs, they joined in the fight. They headed north for work, finding hard labor in Sacramento in the summer of 1933 picking cotton and grapes.
Permanent relocation to the San Joaquin Valley When their truck broke down in Mendota, California, Grandmother Rita decided that it was better for them to stay in the valley where there was always work instead of returning to Anaheim like they originally planned. After floods destroyed their camp in Mendota, they moved south to Weedpatch, California, and took up residence in an abandoned granary. The family was still poor, and they pulled mustard greens and wild mushrooms from ditch banks for food and drank potentially dangerous and contaminated water collected in large barrels infested with bugs. At school one day Lopez began displaying signs of illness and was kept in the basement for the remainder of the day; it was typhoid fever, most likely contracted from the contaminated water, and she was kept in isolation at a Bakersfield hospital until overcoming the illness. From 1933 to 1936 Her family continued to migrate up and down the Valley for work, including back breaking labor such as picking onions using a short-handled hoe. ==Motherhood and the 1940s and 1950s==