Hispanic Heritage Month Programming Highlights on WETA World

Saturday, September 14 at 8:00 PM

Trace the life and legacy of labor activist Cesar Chavez. Through interviews with Maya Angelou, Joan Baez, Carlos Santana and more, see how music and the arts were instrumental to the success of the farmworkers’ movement Chavez helped found..

Monday, September 16 at 2:00 PM

Discover the untold story of Frank Pais and Juan Antonio Echeverria, pivotal figures in toppling dictator Fulgencio Batista's regime. Their urban insurgencies were instrumental in mobilizing support against Batista. Through interviews and archival footage, the documentary challenges the myth of Castro's sole triumph, shedding light on the complex dynamics of the Cuban Revolution.

Monday, September 16 at 3:30 PM

Student Cray Novick goes to Cuba and meets artists, sociologists, and everyday Cubans who reflect on Cuba today. Their stories reveal the evolution of Cuban society dating back to 1960. Barack Obama becomes the first U.S. president to visit Cuba since the 1959 revolution. Cuba is changing and Cubans are searching for a collective Cuban dream.

Monday, September 16 at 4:00 PM

The Cuban Revolution, its post-Castro future and the conflicts Cuba has dealt with over the past six decades.

Tuesday, September 17 at 8:00 PM

Who created the Nazca lines, one of archaeology’s greatest enigmas, and why? Recent finds of long-hidden lines and figures etched into the Peruvian desert offer new clues to the origins and purpose behind these giant desert symbols.

Tuesday, September 17 at 9:00 PM

Recent discoveries, including funerary urns with highly decorative patterns, and technological advances like the remote sensor system known as LiDAR, are shedding new light on our understanding of pre-Columbian societies in the Amazon. Scientists speculate the rainforest was home to between 8 and 10 million people living in large, well-established communities.

Wednesday, September 18 at 7:00 PM

Born in Puerto Rico, Clemente was an exceptional baseball player and humanitarian whose career sheds light on larger issues of immigration, civil rights and cultural change. He would die in a tragic plane crash in 1972.

Wednesday, September 18 at 8:00 PM

Discover how Moreno defied her humble upbringing and racism to become one of a select group of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award winners. Explore her 70-year career with new interviews, clips of her iconic roles and scenes of the star on set today.

Thursday, September 19 at 7:00 PM

63 years after the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, the surviving Cuban-American dissidents tell the fuller story. In detailed interviews with the men who fled Cuba only to return alongside US military forces, they narrate the calamity of the US siege and the trauma they faced as prisoners. By reliving the horrors of war and the fragility of service, these men fill a gap in the military record.

Thursday, September 19 at 8:00 PM

In California’s Central Valley, hundreds of Latinx youth miss months of school annually, because they live with their families in one of the state’s farmworker housing centers. These subsidized apartments require families to move out each winter and relocate at least 50 miles away before being allowed to return in the spring. These cycles of displacement come at a high cost to families’ futures.

Thursday, September 19 at 9:30 PM

Two first generation immigrants are caught between family traditions and the need to find their own voices.

Friday, September 20 at 7:00 PM

The life of Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco (1883-1949), a life filled with drama, adversity and triumph, is one of the great stories of the modern era. Despite poverty, childhood rheumatic fever that damaged his heart and an explosion in his youth that cost him his left hand, Orozco persisted in his wish to become an artist.

Friday, September 20 at 8:00 PM

Explore the life and career of Julia Alvarez, one of the most influential Latina writers of her generation.

Saturday, September 21 at 7:00 PM

Meet Nixta Taqueria owners Sara Mardanbigi and Edgar Rico, Discada owners Xose Velasco and Anthony Pratto, and Cuantos Tacos owner Luis ‘Beto’ Robledo as they introduce their parents, discuss their childhood experience as children of immigrants, and explore the paths that led them to becoming celebrated small business owners and local heroes in the Austin community.

Saturday, September 21 at 7:30 PM

Edgar and Sara work a night shift at Nixta Taqueria while recounting how they fell in love; Beto picks up his daughter from school and discusses balancing business ownership and co-parenting while working on his menu from home; Anthony and Xose explain the history of the discada recipe and recount how they became best friends while hosting a backyard discada party at Xose’s parents’ house.

Saturday, September 21 at 8:00 PM

Three Cuban baseball players leave their families and risk exile to chase their major leagues dreams. At the shadowy nexus of the migrant trail and pro sports, these athletes try to hold onto their hope while fighting for a better life.

Saturday, September 21 at 9:30 PM

Photography integrates two distinct ethnic and linguistic groups in a rural California town.

Monday, September 23 at 8:00 PM

In Venezuela, amidst a backdrop of poverty, murder, and corruption, the El Sistema youth orchestra offers children hope and the opportunity to pursue a life of art in spite of the harshness of the society around them. Yet the country’s spiraling collapse and political repression threatens the musicians’ dreams of a better life.

Monday, September 23 at 9:30 PM

As a symbol of life’s cyclical nature, the circle is important for Native Americans. Rebekka honors the keeper of the connection between her people and culture; Charlie, who has light skin and hair, works to be accepted by fellow tribe members; and Levelle finds a path to meaning, healing, and helping after prison. Three storytellers, three interpretations of Sacred Circle, hosted by Wes Hazard.

Thursday, September 26 at 8:00 PM

On May 5th, 1991, people took to the streets of Washington D.C.’s Mount Pleasant neighborhood to protest the police shooting of a young Salvadoran man, Daniel Gomez. Through testimony, song, poetry, and street theater, La Manplesa: An Uprising Remembered weaves together the collective memory of one of D.C.’s first barrios and dives into the roots of the '91 rebellion.

Thursday, September 26 at 9:00 PM

Explore the life and music of Ramon "Chunky" Sanchez, from his humble beginnings as a farmworker in Blythe, California to the dramatic moment when he received one of our nation's highest musical honors at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Chunky’s arc of transformation from marginalized farm kid to charismatic social activist shows how one person can mobilize people to change the world.

Saturday, September 28 at 8:00 PM

After 20 years living in the United States, an undocumented family decides to return home. Little do they know it will be the most difficult journey of their lives and reawaken an intense desire for a place to belong. Set between the rodeo arenas of North Carolina and the spellbinding Mexican town they yearn for, Bulls and Saints is a love story about reverse migration, rebellion, and redemption.

Celebrate the recipients of the 37th Hispanic Heritage Awards. The evening commemorating Hispanic Heritage Month includes performances and appearances by some of the country's most celebrated Hispanic artists and visionaries, including Designer Carolina Herrera, Beautyblender Creator Rea Ann Silva, and NBA Legend Carmelo Anthony.

Sunday, September 29 at 7:00 PM

Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula, home to the Maya, is a forest rich in wildlife, including monkeys, jaguars and vibrant tropical birds. Here lies a secret underworld which holds the key to life.

Monday, September 30 at 7:00 PM

Over the course of a grueling eight months, a crew of Oaxacan guest workers plant trees throughout the United States. This intimate portrait shows how hard it is to balance the physical demands of reforestation and extreme isolation while staying connected to the family back home.

Monday, September 30 at 8:00 PM

As a blind, undocumented immigrant, Pedro faces obstacles to obtain his college degree, become a social worker, and support his family. Uncertainty looms over him even after he graduates. Through experimental cinematography and sound, unseen reimagines the accessibility of cinema, while exploring the intersections of immigration, disability, and mental health.