For Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins annually on September 15, GreenBookofSongs.com ® has selected five songs about famous Hispanics in history. While there are numerous leaders to choose from — elected officials, scientists, social activists, actors and musicians – we focused on heroes whose stories translate well into song.

Pancho Villa Billy Walker

Villa may have been a bandit before becoming a revolutionary leader, but Walker’s song sees him through the eyes of the Mexican villagers whose cause he championed: “He put down gold and silver, and food for us to eat / Said, ‘I didn’t come to harm you,’ and our hearts fell at his feet.”

Viva Zapata! Andy Irvine

You might not expect a Celtic folk singer to write a song of praise for a Mexican revolutionary, but Zapata’s commitment to the poor transcends such divisions. Using Zapata’s famous saying, Irvine captures his heroism well: “Isn’t it better to die on your feet than live upon your knees? / 400 years of bondage, that’s enough.”

Manos, Huesos Y Sang / Hands, Bones And Blood (Waltz For Frida Kahlo) Tish Hinojosa

Kahlo expressed through her brilliant art the tragedy of her life, marked by physical pain and heartbreak. Hinojosa portrays both the beauty and sorrow in this haunting song: “Thousand words painted by love’s broken stroke…Women would dream by your name.”

Picasso And Me Gretchen Peters

Picasso’s life included not just groundbreaking art but also many romantic partners, so it is fitting that Peters tells his story from a lover’s point of view. She watches him struggle with the conventional art world, which can’t yet grasp his genius: “Who made this game, who made these rules?…They’ll never understand him, they don’t know what I know.”

Roberto Clemente Phil Coley

The first Latin American elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, Clemente was also a humanitarian. He died tragically in a plane crash while delivering relief supplies to earthquake victims in Nicaragua. This story song asks us to recognize both aspects of Clemente’s heroism: “He threw out runners from the outfield while on his knees / Though his right arm was great, honor all of him, please.”

On this anniversary of 9/11, we wanted to share with our educator subscribers a program designed to teach children about that tragic day. The September 11 Educational Program, located at LearnAbout9-11.org, uses a personal approach. It tells stories from the perspective of those whose lives were directly affected to give children a point of entry, a way of understanding an event many are too young to remember. The site offers discussion questions, a presentation, and other teaching tools.

GreenBookofSongs.com® has catalogued nearly 70 songs about 9/11, several of which use a similar story-telling approach to convey the sadness and shock that gripped us all. Here are three examples of songs that might be used in a classroom:

The Bravest Tom Paxton

This frequently political folk artist leaves politics aside in this song about a man who worked in the Twin Towers. He escapes down the stairs, hastened by firefighters making their way up. Saved by heroes who died, he attends their funerals to honor their sacrifice. “They must have seen it coming / When they turned to face the fire / They sent us down to safety / Then they kept on climbing higher.”

Let’s Roll Neil Young

On Flight 93, ordinary individuals took extraordinary actions, banding together to resist the terrorists who had hijacked their plane. Young speaks here as one of those passengers, who ends a cell phone call to his wife and turns toward an uninvited fight. “I know I said I love you / I know you know it’s true / I’ve got to put the phone down / And do what we got to do.”

Land Of The Living Lucy Kaplansky

This New York-based folk artist describes a different aspect of life in the city in the aftermath of the attacks. As fires continue to burn, she meets a Muslim taxi driver who has been beaten up in blind revenge. “I’m not one of them, no matter what they say / I’m just worried about my family / My wife’s in the house and she’s scared to leave.”

Find more in our category DANGER & DISASTER:  9-11-2001.