From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)

Joe Taylor, Jr. was the first African American elected official in Adair County, KY. In 1971 he was elected in his first bid to be a councilman on the Columbia City Council, receiving the highest number of votes of any candidate in the city-wide election. He was re-elected for his sixth term in 1981.

For more see "40 blacks serve on city councils in 35 Kentucky cities," in the Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials [1982], 6th Report, by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, p. 22.