O'Hanlon is best known for a fresco painted on the wall of Memorial Hall at the University of Kentucky in 1934 for the Treasury Relief Art Project.

The fresco has repeatedly attracted negative attention for what many view as its romanticized depiction of African American slaves.

Rice attended the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco for two years of post graduate training.

In order to provide work for unemployed artists, the United States Federal Government commissioned art projects.

In a 1964 interview, O'Hanlon addressed the depictions of African Americans in the painting, but did not elaborate on her decision to include representations of slaves in the center of the mural.