Born Abelardo Delgado to a poor family in Chihuahua, Mexico, in 1930, Lalo and his mother moved to El Paso, Texas in 1943 when he was twelve. He grew up in a tenement packed with twenty-three families sharing three bathrooms.

Vice president of the honor society, Lalo graduated from Bowie High School in 1950. At that time, college, for a poor Mexican immigrant, was virtually impossible. For the next several years, he worked in construction and in restaurants.

In 1955, Lalo began working with impoverished youths at a community center in El Paso, helping them find jobs and educational opportunities.

Eight years after finishing high school, Lalo found his way to college and earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1962.

By the early 1960's, he was working with Cesar Chavez in the farmworker movement, and later became the Executive Director of the Colorado Migrant Council.

During this time, he was also writing poems, and by the late 1960's had begun to publish his poetry. In 1969, he published "Chicano: 25 pieces of a Chicano Mind," which included "stupid america," his best-known poem. His poetry reflected the struggles, hopes, feelings, desires and dreams of the Mexican-American people.

In addition to his legacy as an artist and activist, Lalo was a teacher. He helped develop many Chicano Studies programs in universities throughout the Western United States, including the University of Colorado. Lalo taught Chicano Studies for 17 years at Metropolitan State College of Denver. He also taught Spanish and was recognized for his efforts to educate Mexican immigrants on how to obtain citizenship in the United States.

Lalo also wrote poems for special occasions. He often presented poems to couples getting married, and every year he composed a new poem for Mother's Day, which he read to fellow worshipers at church. When he was courting his future wife, he sent her a dollar bill every day from California, where he was working in a hotel, so she could by a wedding dress. On each bill, he wrote a poem.

Lalo wrote his poems in English, Spanish and a combination of the two, and read them in a booming voice that needed no amplification.

Lalo Delgado died July 23, 2004 in Denver. He was 73. He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Lola Estrada of Arvada, Colo.; six daughters, Ana Duran of Arvada; Alicia Delgado of Lakewood, Colo.; Andrea Brady of Broomfield, Colo.; and Amelia Cruz, Angelica Regla and Abby Vidal, all of Denver; two sons, Arturo, of Denver, and Alfredo, of Arvada; 19 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.