Minnesota TV station finds old footage of a very young prince

Finally, a historian who researched Prince’s childhood helped connect Mr. Wagner to Terrence Jackson, with whom he grew up. Mr. Wagner played the clip for him and Mr. Jackson immediately recognized the boy as the Prince.

“This is Skipper!” Mr. Jackson said, using his childhood nickname Prince.

Elliott H. said: Powell, a professor of American studies at the University of Minnesota, who teaches a course, although the interview is short, gives context to causes that Prince would later support, such as public education, workers’ rights, and fair compensation for artists. on the prince.

The young prince was interviewed in North Minneapolis, a predominantly black part of the city where young activists led uprisings in the 1960s to protest police brutality, the harassment of black youth in white-owned businesses, and commercial development that was eradicating Prof.

“Prince grows up in that environment and sees the impact of black youth activists,” he said.

discover it The current teachers, who They played “Purple Rain” during one of their careerssaid Greta Callahan, president of the teachers’ chapter of the Minneapolis Teachers Union, Local 59. After a nearly three-week strike, the union I reached an agreement with the region late last month.

“There was a lot,” Ms. Callahan said in an email, “of course, Prince supported the strike! “

Professor Powell said the interview also shows the influence of two important women in Prince’s life: his mother, Mattie Shaw Nelson Baker, who worked as a social worker in public schools; And the Bernadette Andersona family friend, PTA volunteer, and activist in Minneapolis who helped raise Prince.

“This 17-second video does a lot of work,” said Mr. Ali.

Said Mr. Lady, he was almost lost.

Tom Ziegler, a former editor at the station, said that many of the station’s old news reels, which were in metal cans and stored on shelves in the basement of the former WCCO headquarters, were destroyed when a water main burst and flooded the basement around 1981. Which Retired in 2012.

He said that when the station moved to its new location around 1983, he and other employees learned that someone had started disposing of the remaining tapes.