Honoring Legacy, Uplifting Futures: CEPS June Events Begin

KANSAS CITY, Kan. - June 12, 2025 - PRLog -- The Charles Edward Pope Foundation (CEPS), led by founder and CEO Lisa R. King, is proud to announce a monumental series of June events in Kansas City, Kansas. Rooted in a legacy that stretches back to the 1800s, these events are designed to honor the Pope family's profound contributions to justice, education, public service, and cultural advancement in Quindaro and beyond.

Lisa King, the great-great-granddaughter of abolitionist leaders and Civil War patriots, has made it her life's mission to preserve and share this family legacy. The Pope family was responsible for securing the first Writ of Emancipation in Kansas in 1860 and served as conductors on the Underground Railroad. Generations of their descendants have continued to break barriers becoming the contributors to local and national culture.

This June, CEPS will host the following events:

• International Business Brunch  with global business leaders including Cambodian Master Club CEOs
• Faith Night, a spiritual celebration rooted in legacy and purpose
• Veterans/Senior "Never Forgotten" Program honoring service and sacrifice
• Royal Emancipation Gala at Memorial Hall, a tribute to the family's legal and cultural breakthroughs

Each event ties the historic past with today's global relevance, laying the foundation for CEPS's upcoming involvement with the 2026 World Cup in Kansas City where the Foundation aims to showcase local Black history, generational achievements, and represent cultural unity on the world stage.

With Lisa King and CEPS, the family's influence stretches far. Lisa's cousin, the late Larysa Jaye, was a powerful voice in country-soul music. In June 2025, she was honored with an official proclamation from the City of Nashville, declaring December 8th as "Jaye Day." Her art and activism echoed the same strength and storytelling that defines her ancestors.

That legacy also continues through C.M. James, author, publisher, and founder of C.M. Jaye Music, who also shares direct lineage with the Pope family. His work bridges literature, music, and media to uplift and expand the very legacy CEPS protects. Together, these creative branches, rooted in the same ancestral soil, form a generational force working in tandem to educate, empower, and unify.

Kansas City, Kansas is more than a backdrop, it's the heart of this legacy. From Quindaro to Nashville, from emancipation to proclamation, the Pope family's story is still being written boldly, loudly, and with purpose.

In honor of the enduring Pope family legacy, preserved through generations and carried forward by voices like the late Larysa Jaye and author C.M. James, whose ongoing contributions help illuminate the past while shaping the future.

Visit CEPS Foundation