It took her many years to bring the project to fruition, but Oprah Winfrey says "Their Eyes Were Watching God," premiering Sunday, March 6, on ABC, was a labor of love.

Adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks ("Topdog/Underdog") from a 1937 novel by Zora Neale Hurston, the TV movie stars Oscar winner Halle Berry as Janie Crawford, a strong-willed black woman in 1920s America whose turbulent personal journey takes her on a marital roller coaster with three very different men.

Winfrey, who produced the project in association with Quincy Jones after the two got into a bidding war over the book, says she was drawn to Hurston's novel because of its emphasis on Janie's personal search for love instead of timeworn social and political issues.

"I think that its really important for us to see black people, African-Americans, in a life that allows not only the history and legacy of the culture, but to show love," Winfrey says. "And that's often not been seen in a way that people can relate to. So this has been a story that I have loved and wanted to see come to life for so many years."

Some 12 years ago, Winfrey gave a copy of the book to Berry, but the younger actress had already read it in high school. Despite the difference in periods, Berry says Janie's character resonated with her.

"What Janie does is really unheard of for the times," she says. "She really was more of a modern woman who could really live in our society today. On the other side, it's still a time and place that isn't familiar to me, but I have lived the black experience, and the black side of my family is from the South. So their stories and experiences have been passed down to me for my entire life."

Winfrey hopes the TV movie brings new recognition to Hurston, who died in poverty in 1960.

"I hope it will introduce Zora Neale Hurston to a reading public that doesn't even know she exists," Winfrey says. "I'm hoping that it will elevate her to the kind of stature that she deserved while she was alive."