“The River's Children” is an incredible work by American author, Ruth McEnery Stuart, representing the conduct of life of African Americans residing near the Mississippi River and the poverty they lived in. Excerpt from “The River's Children” “The Mississippi was flaunting itself in the face of opposition along its southern banks. It had carried much before it in its downward path ere it reached New Orleans. A plantation here, a low-lying settlement there, a cotton-field in bloom under its brim, had challenged its waters and been taken in, and there was desolation in its wake.”