It served African-American students from the beginning, in separate facilities under educational segregation in the United States.
[2] The school namesake is John Motley Morehead, former Governor of North Carolina.
[6] The property concerned included a field, unused, with 7.3 acres (3.0 ha) of land total.
In 2014 the City of Raleigh offered to buy the Dorothea Dix property and the Morehead field for $51.26 million.
[7] The North Carolina House of Representatives approved a bill allowing the sale.