José Luis Montalvo (September 9, 1946 – August 15, 1994) was a Chicano writer, poet, and community activist.

In 1969, he was transferred to Laredo, Texas, where he was reborn a Chicano and began to get involved in political and community issues.

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.