Stuart, Ruth McEnery, 1856-1917

An author, Ruth McEnery Stuart was born near Marksville, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana in 1849. Her family spent part of each year in their New Orleans residence, and the remainder of the year on their Avoyelles Parish plantation. As an adult, she lived in New Orleans until c.1885, when she moved to New York, where she continued to write short stories about plantation life.

American author and lecturer Ruth Stuart McEnery was one of the most popular writers of the 1890s. Her works are typically set in the American south of her youth, Louisiana or Arkansas, and are generally sentimental tales of local color. Modern critics often dismiss her work as promoting racial stereotypes of the day, but her characters, plots, and overall tone were often more complex and fair-minded than those of her contemporaries.

Ruth McEnery was born in Marksville, La. In 1879 she married Alfred Stuart, a cotton planter. She was educated in New Orleans and started writing in 1888. She resided in New York City for many years where she died on May 6, 1917. Ruth McEnery Stuart is noted for her writings about the South and, in particular, for her use of African-American dialect.

American author noted for Southern stories.