Mr. Montemayor was adopted by the Montemayor family in Laredo; his family was heavily involved in community affairs and Mexican American activism. His adoptive mother, Alicia Dickerson Montemayor, was elected vice president general of LULAC. After attending college in St. Edward's University in Austin, Mr. Montemayor worked as a teacher in Del Rio, where he became involved in Chicano activism. He was a central player in the events that led to the march in Del Rio, and later taught at walkout schools in Uvalde and other communities in the RGV. He was one of the founders of Colegio Jacinto Treviño (eventually becoming involved in Juarez Lincoln University). He eventually settled in San Antonio, where he became a full time staff member at IDRA. Throughout the interview, Mr. Montemayor talks about the pedagogical foundations for his work in Chicano-oriented courses, entrepreneurship, and some of the rifts that caused certain Chicano/a initiatives to split (e.g. Colegio Jacinto Treviño).

This is a wide-ranging interview by Mario Salas from his time as a child to his aspirations in the political arena