In time, her salary was paid through a shared funding agreement between the first public school board of the city and the American Missionary Association (AMA), which helped support numerous teachers in the South as part of their educational mission for freedmen and their children. For the 1870–1871 term, she studied at the Normal School of the newly established Straight University, founded by the AMA. The following year, she began teaching primary school at Straight, which had a range of preparatory classes, and then in Amite City, Louisiana. She was highly regarded for her work and in 1872, received a glowing testimonial from a Catholic priest. Ramsey taught in Amite City until 1874. That year she married Rev. R. A. Leslie, a Presbyterian minister, and moved to a school in Osyka, Mississippi. Rev. Leslie was a Creek Indian. Around 1880 he and his wife moved to Indian Territory, where he helped establish schools for Creek Freedmen. Establishing a boarding house the following year in Muskogee, the couple remained in Indian Territory for several years. They returned to Mississippi, where Rev. Leslie died in April 1884. After her husband's death, Leslie studied at the Boston Conservatory of Music. She moved to Paris, Texas, where she founded and led a music school. It was flourishing by 1886. The following year, she returned to Muskogee, Indian Territory, where she taught in a private girls academy. Her school charged a tuition of eight dollars per month. Leslie also founded the Afro-American International Institute and School of Arts. In the summer of 1891 she was hired as principal of the Tullahassee Mission School, which was a school for Creek Freedmen. Leslie already had vacation plans for time in Saratoga Springs, New York, a summer resort town in upstate. Leslie served as principal until October 1891. Her brother Solomon Cole had married late in life and become widowed. He and his wife had two daughters, but one died in infancy. Leslie moved to Corpus Christi, Texas to help him raise his remaining daughter. There she opened a music conservatory for girls. Known throughout the region for her teaching skill, Leslie also performed music and was considered a "composer of some prominence". None of her works is known to be extant. After working for several years in Texas, Leslie returned to Indian Territory. She resumed teaching at the Tallahassee Mission in 1895, where she served as the