José Luis Montalvo (September 9, 1946 – August 15, 1994) was a

Chicano Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

writer, poet, and community activist.

Biography

Early life

José Luis Montalvo was born on September 9, 1946, in

Piedras Negras, Coahuila Piedras Negras () is a city and seat of the Piedras Negras Municipality, surrounding municipality of the same name in the Mexican list of states of Mexico, state of Coahuila. It stands at the northeastern edge of Coahuila on the Mexico–United St ...

, México.Emmanuel Sampath Nelson, ''The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature: I - M'', Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005, pp. 1514-1515 He moved to

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

in 1959. He graduated from Fox Tech High School in 1966. He then joined the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, where he was stationed in

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In 1969, he was transferred to

Laredo, Texas Laredo ( ; ) is a city in and the county seat of Webb County, Texas, United States, on the north bank of the Rio Grande in South Texas, across from Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Laredo has the distinction of flying seven flags (the flag of t ...

, where he was reborn a

and began to get involved in political and community issues. He was honorably discharged from his military duties in 1971. He returned to San Antonio, where he attended

San Antonio College San Antonio College (SAC) is a public community college in San Antonio, Texas. It is part of the Alamo Colleges District and the oldest public two-year college in Texas. The college has an average semester enrollment of 22,028 credit students an ...

and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from St. Mary's University in 1974.

Career

He ran for State Representative in 1974, under the

Raza Unida Party Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida (National United Peoples PartyArmando Navarro (2000) ''La Raza Unida Party'', p. 20 or United Race Party) is a former Hispanic political party centered on Chicano (Mexican-American) nationalism. It was created in 1 ...

. He authored several books of poetry including ''Pensamientos Capturados'' (1977), ''¡A MI QUE!'' (1983), ''Black Hat Poems'' (

Slough Press Slough Press is an American small press publisher that specializes in unique literature in all genres, publishing since 1973 from Texas in Austin, Dallas, and College Station.Slough Press Books The mission of Slough Press aims to publish no ...

1987), and ''Welcome to My New World'' (

1992).Jose Luis Montalvo; Poet, 47
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', August 19, 1994University of Texas at Austin: José Montalvo, Chicano Poet
/ref> He has been described as the People's Poet, performing anywhere from his favorite local bars to universities around the country. Best known for his satirical take on the Texas Sesquicentennial, "What the Sasquash-centennial Means To Me!" (1986). His editor at ViAztlan was

Rafael C. Castillo Rafael C. Castillo is an American writer, who was the first editor of ''ViAztlan: an international journal of Arts and Letters'' established in San Antonio, Texas, in 1979. The journal was funded through the City of San Antonio and the culture-ba ...

, a prominent writer and mentor to many Chicano writers. Jose at first balked at the massive editorial changes to his poem, but later acquiesced to them after Castillo explained the scope and focus of the poetic changes. The poem led to loss of city grant funding for the Chicano Arts journal, " ViAztlan". During the 1980s, he became known to the Chicano world as The Black Hat Poet, the bearded Resistol cowboy hat-wearing, beer-drinking poet who wore starched blue jeans and a lizard earring, not the mental picture of what comes to mind when one thinks of a Chicano. Audiences especially enjoyed the humor in his writing and performances.

Death

He was diagnosed with

colorectal cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel m ...

in July 1990 and battled his disease for three years. In addition to receiving traditional medical treatment, he pursued his own alternative treatment regimen consisting of vitamins, herbs, and a vegetarian diet. He died August 15, 1994, at the age of forty-seven.

Bibliography

*''Pensamientos Capturados'' (1971) *''¡A MI QUE!'' (1983) *''Black Hat Poems''(1987) *''Welcome to My New World'' (1992)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Montalvo, Jose 1946 births 1994 deaths People from Piedras Negras, Coahuila Writers from San Antonio Mexican emigrants to the United States United States Air Force airmen St. Mary's University, Texas alumni Mexican poets Mexican male writers Writers from Coahuila 20th-century American poets American male poets 20th-century American male writers