Archival footage has been found of the singer Prince at a teachers’ strike in 1970 when he was just 11.
The video was first discovered by WCCO, a CBS News affiliate in Minnesota, and shows film of an April 1970 teachers’ strike.
WCCO restored the 1970 strike footage to give more context for a strike that took place last month in Minneapolis. When the affiliate’s production manager, Matt Liddy, a Minneapolis native, heard about it, he was curious to see it for himself.
“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?” said Liddy in an interview with WCCO.
While watching the footage, Liddy noticed a reporter interviewing children, and was particularly struck by one child.
“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,” said Liddy.
Although WCCO did not have the appropriate technology to hear the sound on the video, a specialist was able to extract audio, revealing what the younger Prince said.
“I think they should get a better education too, because, um … I think they should get some more money ’cause they work, they be working extra hours for us and all that stuff,” said Prince, who at the time would have been known by his full birth name, Prince Rogers Nelson.
Prince was not asked for his name in the footage, so WCCO had to find other sources who could verify his identity. Accompanying Prince was a boy who introduced himself as Ronnie Kitchen, but WCCO could not track him down.
Prince’s fifth-grade yearbook photos, which WCCO unearthed, did not help either. So WCCO asked historian Kristen Zschomler, who specializes in Twin Cities property and landmarks and happens to be an avid Prince fan.
Zschomler confirmed the identification, based on a picture she had of him in sixth grade. She also noted that the school in the background of the restored video was Lincoln junior high school, which Prince attended at the time.
Zschomler also found friends of Prince who knew him as a child, including Terrance Jackson, who was in Prince’s first band, Grand Central, when the two were teenagers.
“That is Prince! Standing right there with the hat on, right? That’s Skipper! Oh my God,” said Jackson on viewing the footage.
“It’s just amazing to see him, that small, that young, and hear his voice,” said Jackson’s wife, Rhoda, who grew up alongside Prince and Terrance. “That’s Prince, AKA Skipper to the Northside.”
Prince was one of the most successful pop musicians of all time. He died in 2016, having sold more than 150m albums, written at least 500 published songs and won most major international music awards.
