Google honors Zora Neale Hurston with a Doodle on her birthday

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Tech giant Google honored writer, folklorist and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston with a Doodle on her birthday Tuesday. The doodle features an illustration of Hurston set over a Florida landscape. It is the latest in over 1,000 doodles for the Google homepage..

Hurston was born on this day 123 years ago in Notasulga, Alabama. She is remembered commonly as one of the preeminent writers of the Harlem Renaissance and for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Despite promise in her early career, Hurston’s work slid into obscurity after her last novel was released in 1948. She died of a stroke in 1960 in a Florida welfare home and was buried in an unmarked grave.

Hurston’s legacy was almost lost to time until author Alice Walker went in search of her grave and subsequently revived Hurston in the public imagination through her 1975 essay for Ms. magazine, “In Search of Zora Neale Hurston.”

In years since, Hurston’s work has flourished. Their Eyes Were Watching God is now recognized as part of the modern American literary canon and is widely taught. The novel even inspired a 2005 film starring Halle Berry and produced by Oprah Winfrey.

Follow Donovan X. Ramsey at @iDXR