Google celebrates the 184th birthday of Louisa May Alcott with Doodle

PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating what would be Little Women author Louisa May Alcott's 184th birthday with a new doodle.

Released Tuesday, the doodle, created by artist Sophie Diao, portrays the book's characters Beth, Jo, Amy, and Meg March, as well as Jo's best friend Laurie.

The March family of Little Women was based on Alcott's family, and the character of Jo was Louisa's vision of herself.

In addition to being a writer, "Alcott was a suffragist, abolitionist, and feminist," Google noted.

Alcott was born in Pennsylvania in 1832. The second oldest of four girls, her family moved to Boston where she grew up among those in the Transcendentalist Movement. Throughout her young life, she took jobs as a teacher and a nurse due to her family's financial troubles. She volunteered as a nurse in the American Civil War and her home was a station on the Underground Railroad.

After the war, she began writing anti-slavery articles and books. She received her first big success when she turned to children's books and wrote Little Women. The advocate for feminism and women's suffrage, became the first woman to register to vote in Concord, Mass.