She went to Georgia with the American Missionary Association to teach black children, but left after a year to protest the pay gap between male and female teachers there.

She then moved to Ohio in 1870 where she studied at McMicken School of Design, but became involved in the temperance movement and felt called to join the ministry.

[1] In 1876, Oliver became the first woman to graduate from a Methodist seminary, receiving a Bachelor of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology.

[5][6] She was assisted in her duties by Amanda Smith, a black evangelist; despite their success however, they were replaced by a regular male preacher the following year.

"[10] Oliver died while visiting her brother and sister in Greensboro, Maryland in 1892, "broken in health and spirit, believing she had failed in her attempts to gain equal suffrage for women," according to Paige Hoydick.