The Interpreter Foundation and Redbrick Filmworks continues to release a new episode of their not-for-profit series of mini-documentaries titled Becoming Brigham each Monday. This week, they released the following episode:

Episode 31: “Lives of Their Own? The Wives & Family of Brigham Young”

• How did Brigham Young’s rejection of his father’s harsh discipline shape daily life and family rituals in the Lion House?
• In what concrete ways did women such as Eliza R. Snow exercise leadership and autonomy under Brigham Young?
• Why do the historians argue that judging Brigham Young solely by modern standards risks missing both the complexity of his character and the reasons so many people willingly followed him?

Drawing on his daughters’ recollections and the insights of historians Lisa Olson Tate and Brittany Chapman Nash, this episode of ‪Becoming Brigham‬ explores Brigham Young as a father and the inner life of his large household. Clarissa and Susa Young remembered him as an affectionate, tender, and ideal parent whom they adored and never feared—in contrast to Brigham’s own childhood under a stern, disciplinarian father.

Nightly family prayer in the Lion House created both closeness and a setting for meaningful discussion with gathered wives and children; some of those conversations, particularly with Eliza R. Snow, helped shape later organizations such as the Young Women. Brigham’s parenting philosophy favored kindness over the rod, teaching that loving actions bind children far more effectively than force, and he expected the same restraint from the mothers in his household. The episode also examines the practical balance between traditional gender expectations and real autonomy for women. Under Brigham, Latter-day Saint women exercised significant leadership.

The hosts and historians close their discussion by urging a more nuanced view of historical figures, noting that Brigham’s deepest aim was for people to flourish through the gospel and the building of Zion, and that Brigham is best understood through original sources that reveal his counsel and kindness.

Why this docuseries? Many people are aware of Brigham Young as a pivotal figure in American religious and frontier history, but Brigham is also often misunderstood, seen as a larger-than-life caricature rather than as a man. Who actually was Brigham as a man, a father, a husband, and a prophet? The video web series Becoming Brigham debunks fictions and provides surprising new insights into the real Brigham Young. Learn more in the article “Becoming Brigham: The Video Series Premieres.”