Rare Footage of an 11-Year-Old Prince Supporting a Teachers Strike Unearthed
Most people know Prince for his music, not his advocacy for teachers. Yet, that’s exactly what an 11-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson was doing in recently unearthed footage.
CBS Minnesota found rare footage of Prince
Thanks to the crew at WCCO – CBS Minnesota, fans can feast their eyes on a rare, newly unearthed clip of an 11-year-old Prince talking about his school’s teachers’ strike in 1970.
The station’s production manager Matt Liddy found the footage by accident. The WCCO’s film archives are extensive, with “thousands of opportunities to travel back in time,” Jeff Wagner reports. “On one real, a treasure lay hidden, untouched, for 52 years.”
When an educators’ strike started in Minneapolis in March 2022, the station pulled archival footage from another educators’ strike that happened in the same district in April 1970 for context and restored it. What they found in one clip surprised them all.
Liddy, a local history buff, perused the footage for old landmarks and discovered something. Hidden in the footage was a clip of what appeared to be an 11-year-old Prince commenting on the educators’ strike. Liddy was sure it was him but showed everyone in the office to make sure.
“I’m not going to tell you who I think this is, but who do you think this is?” Liddy said to his colleagues. Everyone said it had to be the “Purple Rain” singer. However, it got Wagner’s attention, and he set out on a journey to confirm it.
Wagner had to confirm that the footage was of Prince
A specialist helped the station fix the audio. Once they did, they heard the young icon. In the clip, a reporter asks Prince if the junior high schoolers are in favor of the teachers’ strike. He quickly replies, “Yup. I think they should get a better education too cause, um, and I think they should get some more money cause they work, they be working extra hours for us and all that stuff.”
It was wonderful hearing the clip, but the little boy didn’t identify himself. This started an investigation by Wagner. The reporter watched all the footage and reached out to some who’d given their names. However, they were all dead ends.
Then, Wagner found Prince’s 5th-grade class picture, where he would have been 10 or 11 years old. It was the closest picture they had to compare with the video.
However, Wagner wanted even more proof, so he went to Prince historian Kristen Zschomler. She said that videos of the late musican were almost non-existent until she watched the clip.
Then, she pulled up a 6th-grade school photo of Prince and compared it to the child in the video. Zschomler is convinced it’s Prince. At one point in the clip, Prince gives his famous smirk, and it’s undeniable.
However, Wagner wanted more proof.
A schoolmate confirmed it was the ‘Purple Rain’ singer
Wagner needed someone who knew the icon back then to confirm what they all knew to be true. Zschomler connected him with Terrance Jackson, one of Prince’s schoolmates since kindergarten, a former neighbor, and a bandmate in Prince’s first band, Grand Central.
When watching the clip, Jackson exclaimed, “That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God!” “Skipper” was Prince’s childhood nickname. Watching the video brought tears to Jackson’s eyes. “I’m totally blown away,” he said.
“He was already playing guitar and keys by then, phenomenally. Music became our sport. Because he was athletic, I was athletic, but we wanted to compete musically,” Jackson added.
Jackson confirmed Prince is the little boy in the footage.
“I think just seeing Prince as a young child in his neighborhood school, you know, it helps really ground him to that Minneapolis connection,” Zschomler said. “Even if they’re momentary glimpses into what Minneapolis meant to him, what he stood up for when he lived in Minneapolis, just helps understand that symbiotic connection he had to his hometown.”
Jackson was right; the station found a real gem. The footage brings us one step closer to understanding the mysterious icon.
