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.
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.
[6] 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.
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.
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.
[6] 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.
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.
[6] Lopez met Arnulfo (to be referred to as Arnold for the remainder of this article) De La Cruz in 1933 while living in the same labor camp.
[6] In December 1965 Arnold became involved with Cesar Chavez and the NFWA (Later to become the UFW), and they began having meetings at the De La Cruz family home.
Lopez-De La Cruz stayed at a distance and served the organizers food and drinks, but became a NFWA member after Cesar Chavez said that Jessie "belonged here.
"[9] Soon after, Lopez- De La Cruz was given materials to go into fields and enroll farm workers into the union throughout Parlier, Reedly, Dinuba, and Orange Cove.
[11] When the NFWA became the UFW, Lopez-De La Cruz and the union members continued to struggle for poor immigrant and Chicana/o workers rights and dignity.
She collected membership dues, printed announcements for rallies, and distributed groceries that were donated by churches, social agencies, and private citizens.
[11] In 1966 Lopez-De La Cruz volunteered to teach farm workers practical English at the CCAA in an old building on Olive Avenue in Fresno, California.
Many of our people my age and older were raised with the old customs where the husband rules and the wife obeys… Neighbors in Parlier were for the union, but they were not taking orders from women.
[12] After returning from Calexico, Lopez-De La Cruz and her husband recognized the power of their labor and knowledge and became inspired to start their own farm.
In spring 1973 they started their own farm with five other families, thanks to Rodger McAfee (the same small farmer responsible for sending the $102,000 bail out to Angela Davis in 1972), who leased them 6 acres.
They had some success as the first people to grow, sell, and nationally distribute cherry tomatoes under the label Rancho El Bracero (Also the name of their farm.)
Again in 1976, the National Land for People made its way to Washington to challenge congressional leaders to enforce water rights laws.
[18] In 1977 Lopez-De La Cruz went back to school to study typing, psychology, sociology, and history at Universidad Libre de Campesinos (Farmworkers Free University).
[7] In 1985 Jessie was invited to speak to government officials about her experiences using the short-handled hoe, and how it created lifelong dehibilitating back injuries for herself and other farm workers.
[8] Lopez De La Cruz was active in the Union through the 1980s and finally retired from the UFW in February 1993, only 2 months before the death of Cesar Chavez.
In 2000, Chicano poet Gary Soto completed a biography about her called Jessie De La Cruz: A Profile of a United Farm Worker.