He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and raised, along with his brother, Malaquias Montoya, in the San Joaquin Valley in California.

"[5] This program worked with student teachers who went into neighborhoods that were traditionally "under-served" in order to teach art to young people.

[2] The RCAF under Montoya and his artist comrades produced countless silk screen posters and organized numerous cultural, educational, and political activities in the Sacramento area and well beyond.

[5] His poetic career was said to have begun with the publication of his poem, "La Jefita" (1969) in El Grito: A Journal of Contemporary Mexican-American Thought.

With compassion and anger, it tells the story of Louie, a pachuco from San José and California's Central Valley who is a popular local figure.

Louie is not elevated to gangster sainthood, but he is "recognized as a normative model" rather than portrayed as deviant, dangerous or insignificant.