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 in 1966, she was elected 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 the 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.

Josephine B. Chenault Sneed was born in Mt. Sterling, KY, the daughter of Mattie and Jeff Chenault.

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.