Among his many achievements, Taliaferro served as president of the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP, and the Frederick Douglass Symposium. Because of his tremendous efforts to help raise money for leukemia research, he was named board president of the Northern California Chapter of the Leukemia Society of America for 1995 through 2000. He was the Mayor's Commissioner of the War Memorial Trustee Board from 1992 through 2000, and he headed up the San Francisco Art Commission for 16 years. He hosted events and served as a member of the Board of Governors of The Commonwealth Club of California.