Recently Unearthed Film Footage of Prince at 11 Years Old

While reviewing some old film footage of a 1970 teacher’s strike stored in the archives of WCCO in Minneapolis, a production manager stumbled across an amazing artifact: a brief interview with Prince. I love when they show the clip to his childhood friends for confirmation that it’s actually him. (via, who else, anil)

Update: The NY Times did a piece on the discovery of the video.

Short as the interview is, it gives context to the causes Prince would later support, such as public education, labor rights and fair compensation for artists, said Elliott H. Powell, a professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota who teaches a course on Prince.

The interview with the young Prince was conducted in north Minneapolis, a predominantly Black part of the city where young activists led uprisings in the 1960s protesting police brutality, the harassment of young Black people in white-owned businesses, and commercial development that was decimating the neighborhood, Professor Powell said.

“Prince is growing up in that environment and seeing the impact of Black youth activists,” he said.

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