Abelardo Barrientos Delgado, aka Lalo (November 27, 1931 – July 23, 2004), was a Chicano writer, community organizer, and poet.[1] His work was important in establishing the Chicano poetry movement.[2]

He was a major contributor to the Chicano Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.[3] A professor in Metropolitan State University of Denver's Chicano/a Studies Department for 17 years, he was honored by the city of Denver posthumously in 2005 with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award.[4] In 2004, he was posthumously named Denver's first Poet Laureate.[5] Metropolitan State University hosts the annual Lalo Delgado Poetry Festival; which celebrates Delgado as a social justice poet and "the grandfather of Chicano and Chicana poetry in this country."[6][7][8]

Delgado was awarded the Tonatiuh-Quinto Sol Award for literature in 1977.[1]

Personal life

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Born in Boquilla de Conchos, Chihuahua, Mexico, Delgado moved to El Paso, Texas in 1943.[1] He grew up in a tenement occupied by 23 families sharing three bathrooms, learning English from a boys club after school.[9] Delgado organized his first protest while in school, refusing to sing the National Anthem and eventually convincing his classmates to sing in Spanish instead.[10]

Lalo was married to Lola Estrada and had eight children.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Abelardo Delgado Papers, 1947– (bulk 1968–1981)". legacy.lib.utexas.edu. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  2. ^ Gilb, Dagoberto (2008). Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas-Mexican Literature. UNM Press. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-8263-4126-6.
  3. ^ Kanellos, Nicolás (2008). The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Latino Literature. Gale Virtual Reference Library. pp. 352–353.
  4. ^ "Local Chicano poet "Lalo" Delgado celebrated posthumously at Auraria – My Met Media". mymetmedia.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  5. ^ Milofsky, David (August 4, 2005). "Denver's own poet laureate, for better or verse". The Denver Post. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  6. ^ "Events, Supported Events". msudenver.edu. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  7. ^ "Honoring 'grandfather' of Chicano poetry – My Met Media". mymetmedia.com. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
  8. ^ Lomelí, Francisco A.; Urioste, Donaldo W.; Villaseñor, María Joaquina (December 27, 2016). Historical Dictionary of U.S. Latino Literature. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442275492.
  9. ^ Reed, Christopher (August 4, 2004). "Obituary: Lalo Delgado". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  10. ^ "Poetry Daily Prose Feature – Jarica Linn Watts: Introduction to Here Lies Lalo". poems.com. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
  11. ^ Woo, Elaine (August 1, 2004). "Lalo Delgado, 73; Poet Was Seminal Figure in Rise of Chicano Literature". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved March 15, 2019.