Our story begins in the early 1950s
with a little girl who rose early
with her family
as they made their way to the fields.
Her name was Jessica Govea.
When her family settled in Bakersfield California,
their home became an important place for organizing.
Cesar Chavez,
who was at that time a leader in the Community Service Organization,
or the CSO
visited her parents a lot
and the whole family joined one of the most important
Latinx civil rights organization of the period.
The CSO organized voter drives,
sponsored citizenship classes,
and lobbied for fair employment.
Jessica followed her parents’ lead—passing out flyers,
urging residents to vote—and by the time she was in high school
she became president of the Junior CSO.
Imagine what it felt like to be Jessica Govea;
she wasn’t just watching people fight for civil rights.
She was a natural-born activist.
After her friend was struck by a car and passed away,
she organized a petition drive,
with other 11- and 12-year-olds,
to build a park for kids in her neighborhood.
She knew that kids in her community needed a safe place to play.
At the age of 19 she joined Cesar Chavez
and the organization that would later be known as the United Farm Workers.
Jessica became a fulltime organizer in the UFW,
rising up the ranks so quickly
that she was asked to lead the boycott efforts in Montreal, Canada.
Imagine that:
taking your cause to Canada.
Along with other activists, she helped build the UFW.
In 1977 she was elected to the Board of the Union
and when she left the union,
she continued her activism and eventually found her way to college classrooms
teaching a generation of students the lessons she learned in labor organizing.
As a curator and a historian,
I think about what these stories can teach us.
A lot of times we think that only grown-ups can make history.
But Jessica Govea shows us that young girls can change the world
and that their experiences during girlhood shape the way they see social justice.
She once explained,
“Being a CSO kid helped me grow up with hope
and with a belief in myself and my worth.”
Organizing and changing the world gave Jessica Govea a sense of purpose
and hope.
Her story teaches us that
our Latina history is American history.