Google Doodle celebrates poet, civil rights activist Audre Lorde's 87th birthday

Thursday's Google Doodle celebrates the words of poet and civil rights activist Audre Lorde in honor of what would have been her 87th birthday.

Google users will see a colorful rendering in Google's logo with a slideshow that depicts the Black feminist, who advocated against gender discrimination, racial injustice and homophobia during the 20th century. The Google Doodle, from guest artist Monica Ahanonu, honors the poet during Black History Month.

Through poems such as ”The First Cities," published in 1968, and "Cables to Rage," published in 1970, the American poet called for social and racial justice in the U.S. and internationally.

"Our mother Audre Lorde died in 1992 after a 14-year battle with metastatic breast cancer, but she would have loved the Google Doodle," reads a statement by Lorde's children, Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins and Jonathan Rollins. "She loved learning new things – and she would have been very honored to be featured."

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Google published a blog post with information about the poet's life, noting she

was born in Harlem, New York City, in 1934 and was the daughter of immigrant parents from Grenada and Barbados.

Lorde published her first poem, "Spring," in Seventeen magazine when she was 15.

After earning her a master's degree from Columbia University in 1961, Lorde became a librarian and English teacher in New York City.

Lorde would often describe herself as a “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet” throughout her career and went on to publish notable works including her 1984 collection of essays and speeches, “Sister Outsider,” and a posthumous collection of essays, "A Burst of Light," in 1988, which won the National Book Award.

Google included a memorial quote from Lorde in its post: "There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle, because we do not lead single-issue lives. Our struggles are particular, but we are not alone. What we must do is commit ourselves to some future that can include each other and to work toward that future with the particular strengths of our individual identities.”

She published "The Cancer Journals" in 1980 – 12 years before her death related to metastatic breast cancer – which was a highly-regarded narrative in which Lorde confronted the possibility of death.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Google Doodle: Audre Lorde celebrated on 87th birthday