Commission, and served on the board of directors of the local Chamber of Commerce, as well as the executive board of the Property Owners Association. As a civic leader, he helped to establish a businessmen's association inclusive of all community groups, and was an active supporter of the NAACP, traveling to Los Angeles for meetings. City council In 1948, Yarborough successfully ran for a seat on the Lake Elsinore City Council, becoming the first African American city councilman in California. He had been persuaded to enter politics by Leon H. Washington Jr., publisher of the Los Angeles Sentinel, an influential African American newspaper. Yarborough's defeat of the incumbent was significant as the population of Lake Elsinore was less than 9 percent Black at the time. His electoral success was due to his broad base of support from voters across all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Over the course of his career, Yarborough sought to unite the entire community, working not only with African Americans, but also in support of the Jewish and Latino communities, reaching out to white residents to broker change. The town of Lake Elsinore had historically been heavily segregated since the 1900s. The Black, Jewish and Mexican American communities lived in segregated neighborhoods on the hill, while white families lived in the "choicest homes" at the very top. In 1948, Yarborough told Ebony magazine that desegregation finally started when Douglas Aircraft acquired the only factory in town, providing equal opportunities for employment. As the African American and Jewish communities in Elsinore began to grow, they encountered a few establishments on Main Street which refused to serve them. Yarborough reached out to Jewish community leaders to fight discrimination, and together, they were successful in ensuring that anyone could enjoy a drink or meal anywhere in Lake Elsinore. He was defeated when he ran again in 1956, but three years later was appointed to fill a vacancy. Yarborough was reelected in 1960 and 1964. He served as a member of the Lake Elsinore City Council for a total of eleven years. Mayor In 1966, Yarborough was elected mayor of Lake Elsinore by his fellow city council members. At the time, he was one of three African American mayors elected to office in California. The other two African-Americans who became mayor in predominantly white communities that year were Dubois McGee of El Centro and Ben F. Gross of Milpitas. During his