On January 5, 1881, the North Georgia Annual Conference of the AME Church passed a resolution to establish an educational institution in Atlanta for the moral, spiritual, and intellectual growth of Negro boys and girls.

[6] For more than a century, the college enrolled many students from poor backgrounds, large numbers of whom returned to their hometowns as teachers, as education was a mission of high priority.

After Atlanta University consolidated its facilities, it leased the building to Morris Brown College, which renamed it as Fountain Hall.

The millions of dollars fraudulently obtained were diverted from designated student accounts to cover the college's escalating operational costs, including payroll expenses.

[9][10][11][12][13] Once a thriving institution with approximately 2,500 students,[14] Morris Brown College experienced a significant decline marked by financial mismanagement, accreditation loss, and legal challenges.

Despite attempts to revive the college, including the return of former president, Samuel D. Jolley (1993-1997) and a proposed enrollment goal of 107 students, Morris Brown struggled to regain its footing.

[12] The loss of accreditation proved catastrophic, cutting off vital federal and state financial aid and precipitating a steep enrollment drop.

The college's financial woes deepened, culminating in a $13 million property bond default that threatened foreclosure on historic campus buildings.

Compounding the challenges, Morris Brown suffered severe building deterioration, including a devastating fire at Gaines Hall.

James led the charge calling the initiative to make Morris Brown College the number one HBCU in this country in every metric, "The Hard Reset".

Under James's leadership, Morris Brown was authorized as an institute of higher learning by the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission (GNPEC) in 2019.

In 2021, the college became beneficiaries of a $30 million investment that partners them with Hilton to establish a new hotel on campus and reestablish a hospitality management degree program to train Brownites[14] and its application for accreditation candidacy through the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) was approved, enabling the school to regain access to federal financial aid programs and Title IV funding.

There have been conversations by Morris Brown's leadership to bring back the marching band program and athletics now that the school is accredited again.