Juanita Brooks facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Juanita Brooks
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| Born | January 15, 1898 Bunkerville, Nevada, United States |
| Died | August 26, 1989 (aged 91) St. George, Utah, United States |
| Occupation | Historian, author |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Leonard Ernest Pulsipher, Sr., 1919-1921 William Brooks, 1933-1970 |
Juanita Pulsipher Brooks (born January 15, 1898 – died August 26, 1989) was an American historian and author. She was known for her work on the American West and Mormon history. This included books about the Mountain Meadows Massacre, an important event in American history.
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About Juanita Brooks' Early Life
Juanita Leone Leavitt was born and grew up in Bunkerville, Nevada. Her parents were Henry Leavitt and Mary Hafen. From a young age, she loved history, especially stories about Mormon pioneers.
In 1919, she married Ernest Pulsipher. He passed away a little over a year later, leaving her with a baby son. Juanita then earned her bachelor's degree from BYU. Her first published work was a poem called "Sunrise from the Top of Mount Timp" in 1926. Juanita Brooks passed away in 1989.
Teaching at Dixie College
Juanita moved to St. George, Utah. From 1925 to 1933, she taught English and was the Dean of Women at Dixie Junior College. This college was supported by the LDS Church.
While taking a break from Dixie College in 1928-1929, she earned her master's degree from Columbia University. In 1933, she left the college after the state stopped funding religious secondary education. That same year, she married Will Brooks, who was a widower with four sons.
Juanita became a loving stepmother to his sons. Within five years, they had four more children together: a daughter named Willa Nita and three sons. Juanita loved all her children very much. She sometimes felt she didn't have enough time to write because of her family. However, she also said her loved ones were key to her happiness.
Collecting Pioneer Stories
Juanita Brooks helped Nels Anderson, a student from Columbia University. He was studying sociology in Southern Utah. She helped him research the experiences of her grandfather, Dudley Leavitt.
In 1934, Juanita started and managed a branch of the Emergency Relief Administration in southern Utah. She paid people to write down stories from local pioneer diaries. This project helped many people during the Great Depression.
Juanita continued to find and organize diaries and records from early settlers. In 1947, she joined the Board of the Utah State Historical Society. She had heard stories about the Mountain Meadows Massacre from her family as a child. She started collecting diaries from that time to learn more about what happened.
This work connected her with Dale Morgan, who supervised the Utah Writer's Project. She also continued this work for the Huntington Library in the 1940s. Thanks to Juanita's hard work, these important diaries were saved for others to read. Dale Morgan also introduced her to historian Fawn Brodie.
Quicksand and Cactus: Juanita's Memoir
With encouragement from Dale Morgan, Juanita started writing her autobiography, Quicksand and Cactus. In this book, she describes her childhood and early adult life. She began writing it in 1944. She tried to get it published several times but put it aside to focus on her book about the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Later, she decided to make herself a fictional character named Sal in some parts of the book. She explained that while it might seem less "authentic," she hoped it would make the story more lively.
Juanita returned to the book in 1970 after her husband, Will Brooks, passed away. It was hard for her to finish the book because her memory started to fade. In 1977, her children moved her back to St. George. They packed up her writings, which marked the end of her writing career.
The rest of the book's publication was handled by Trudy McMurrin, an editor at the University of Utah Press. Later, Juanita's son Karl Brooks hired Richard Howe to prepare and publish the book. Because of this, the autobiography was not fully finished by Juanita herself. It shows her lively and "unfinished" personality.
Researching the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Juanita Brooks' study of diaries and personal journals made her historical writing very lively. Her later works showed how carefully she used these sources. She wrote many historical articles and family stories. These included a biography of her pioneer grandfather, Dudley Leavitt, and a book about her sheriff husband, Uncle Will Tells His Story.
Her most famous books on Mormon history are The Mountain Meadows Massacre (1950) and John D. Lee: Zealot, Pioneer Builder, Scapegoat (1961). She also edited the diaries of Hosea Stout.
Juanita Brooks' book on the Mountain Meadows Massacre was groundbreaking. It was the first full account of the event using modern historical methods. Juanita often wrote late at night after her children were asleep. She would work for a few hours, then sleep, but still wake up early with her family. She even kept her ironing nearby to cover her typewriter if a visitor came over. This inspired Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, a famous historian, who said, "Juanita Brooks' example taught me that housewives could be thinkers, too."
Her interest in the Mountain Meadows Massacre gave her life a special purpose. It also helped her receive a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. This allowed her to do more research on the massacre and other topics.
Juanita investigated the events thoroughly. She found no direct proof that Brigham Young was involved in the massacre itself. However, she did say that Young made it harder to investigate. She also felt his strong words might have made the local militia feel very threatened, leading to the attack. She called him "an accessory after the fact," meaning he helped after the event.
Challenges with the LDS Church
Juanita Brooks was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints her whole life. She thought she might be removed from the Church when her Mountain Meadows book was published. Church leaders had discouraged her from studying the massacre. However, her book received great praise from critics.
The Church did not take any official action against her. But Juanita felt a sense of disapproval from her local church and Church officials. For a time, she was not published in official LDS Church magazines. Levi S. Peterson, who wrote about Juanita's life, said that while she spoke her mind fearlessly, she often felt guilty for disagreeing with church leaders. She felt she had to choose between the Church's good name and the truth. Juanita chose truth.
She later explained why she published her work despite the criticism. Brooks stated, "This study is not designed either to smear or to clear any individual; its purpose is to present the truth. I feel sure that nothing but the truth can be good enough for the church to which I belong."
Juanita Brooks received a special service award from the Utah Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Letters. A scholarship fund is being set up at Dixie State University (formerly Dixie College) in her honor.
