From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Sneed, Josephine B. Chenault
(born: December 22, 1899 - died: March 23, 1986) Josephine Chenault Sneed was the first woman to serve as a Cook County Commissioner in Chicago, IL. She was initially appointed to the commission in 1964 to complete the term of her late husband, Edward M. Sneed (1890-1964), the first African American elected to the Cook County Commission. At the end of Josephine Sneed's interim term, she was elected in 1966 to the commission. She had a very active career before and after her election to the Cook County Commission:- Vice President of the Illinois Women's Federation of Democratic Clubs
- Board Member and Assistant Financial Secretary of the Women's Auxiliary of Hecktoen Institute
- Member of the Women's sodality of St. Anselm's Catholic Church
- Participant in the American Women's Volunteer Services during World War II
- Member of the Women's Board of Provident Hospital (1930s)
- Lieutenant in the Salvation Army (1930s)
- Vice Chair of both the Oak Forest Hospital and the County Jail.
SOURCES: "Son wins honors," Chicago Tribune, 10/09/1955, p. 41; "Edward Sneed dies; served county board," Chicago Tribune, 6/28/1964, p. 39; "Widow of Edward Sneed appointed to County Board," Berwyn Life, 7/22/1964, p. 13; African Americans and the Vote: firsts in Cook County Leadership, a Cook County Government website; Illinois, Cook County Deaths (Ancestry); and Josephine B. Sneed on pp.32-33 in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Heritage Series #2, Women in Politics, online at Atlanta University Center.