The school is named for John Tyler Morgan, a Confederate general and Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan who, as a U.S.

Senator, advanced several bills to legalize lynching of African-Americans.

[1] It was founded in 1965, shortly after the Selma to Montgomery marches.

The first classes in 1965 were held in the John Tyler Morgan House until a new campus was built in 1967.

After 41 years, the school admitted its first black student in 2008.