Charles Allen Stillman was born in South Carolina on March 14, 1819. In 1841, he earned a degree from Oglethorpe University in Georgia before earning a divinity degree from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1844. He then became a minister at The Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston until 1845, when he was ordained by the Tuscaloosa Presbytery.

Stillman served in several churches before receiving a Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Alabama in 1863.

He was also the Chairman of the Tuscaloosa Presbytery’s Home Missions Committee, Clerk of the Tuscaloosa Presbytery, and founder of the Institute for Training Colored Ministers in Tuscaloosa. Eventually, this Institute became Stillman College, and though it initially focused on training men for the ministry, it eventually became a place for education from elementary school all the way through college.

Stillman died in 1895 while pastoring at his longest appointment, the Presbyterian Church at Tuscaloosa.