"a child of our time" was an oratorio which used negro spirituals. he combined these with his own style of music. it is about something that really happened in 1938. a 17-year-old jewish polish boy killed a nazi diplomat because the nazis had taken away his parents. the nazis were angry and killed lots of jews in return. it was something which helped to lead to the world war ii. tippett’s music is about the cruelty that humans show towards one another.