Rare Unseen Footage Of Prince At Age 11 Found In Archives Of 1970 Minneapolis Teachers Strike

A young future superstar was sharpening his interview skills many years before perfecting his craft, and a video from that encounter has been uncovered in Minneapolis.

According to CBS Minnesota, a recently found video shows an 11-year-old Prince Rogers Nelson speaking to a reporter during a teacher’s strike in 1970 in Minneapolis. The strike occurred 52 years ago this month, and WCCO restored the film to give perspective to an educators’ strike last month in the same district.

WCCO Production Manager Matt Liddy discovered that 13 minutes of an unearthed video had been restored from the film, and he decided to take a look at it.

“I grew up in Minneapolis, so all I cared about was looking at cool old buildings from the place I grew up. Did I recognize my old school? Did I recognize any landmarks?” Liddy said.

He noticed a recognizable yet young face as he looked at the video.

“I immediately just went out to the newsroom and started showing people and saying, ‘I’m not gonna tell you who I think this is, but who do you think this is?’ And every single person [said] ‘Prince,’” Liddy said.

In the video clip, which can be seen below, the reporter asks a young Prince, who may have been around 10 years old at the time, a question about the teachers’ strike. Prince shows his support to the teachers.

“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.”

As the reporter is trying to verify if it’s really Prince who is seen and heard on the video, he got in touch with a childhood friend who was in an early group with Prince. Terrance Jackson, who was also in the band, Graham Central, was shown the video clip and immediately confirmed that the young boy was indeed the Prince we grew to love.

“That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God!” Jackson stated, also referring to Prince as Skipper, which was a childhood nickname of his.