Richard Wilson Riley (born January 2, 1933), American politician, was United States Secretary of Education under President Bill Clinton and the 111th Governor of South Carolina. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Riley served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1963 to 1966. He served in the South Carolina Senate from 1967 to 1977. Riley was elected governor of South Carolina in 1978. During his first term, the state constitution was amended to allow governors to serve two terms. Riley was re-elected in 1982, and served until 1987. Riley's chief accomplishment was improving funding and support for education.

As Governor, Riley presided over resumption of executions, despite his personal opposition to the death penalty.

In 1993, President Bill Clinton appointed Riley to his Cabinet as Secretary of Education. Riley served in this post until Clinton left office in 2001. Also in 1993, Clinton approached Riley about an appointment to the United States Supreme Court, which Riley turned down. Clinton ultimately appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Since then, he has served as a partner in the law firm of Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP, and served as a board member of the Albert Shanker Institute. On June 27, 2007 he endorsed Hillary Clinton for President and served as a Campaign Co-Chair.

Riley L. Martin (born May 9, 1946) is a self-described alien contactee, author, and radio host. Martin is the author of the book The Coming of Tan, which describes his life and his alleged abduction by aliens. He hosts The Riley Martin Show on the Sirius Satellite Radio channel Howard 101. He had another weekly radio show, The Official Riley Martin Radio Show, but he chose not to continue the show due to financial issues.

Riley Martin was born in Mississippi to a family of sharecroppers of African American and Native American descent.^{[citation needed]} He is an ordained ceremonial minister in First Nation Church. He claims he was first abducted by aliens while living in Arkansas in November 1953.

Martin has characterized his interaction with the aliens as positive. The Biaviian alien O-Qua Tangin Wann (also known as Tan), is listed as the co-author of his book. Martin asserts that a significant amount of knowledge was uploaded into his brain by the aliens, including 144,000 different alien "symbols" within a matter of minutes.

Martin Howard (1725–1781) was a politician in colonial Rhode Island. An eminent lawyer and politician, and had been a delegate from Rhode Island to the Albany Congress. He was the only prominent American to publicly support the Stamp Act of 1765, in his pamphlet "A Letter from a Gentleman at Halifax to His Friend in Rhode Island," (1765) in which he asserted that Parliament had the power to impose taxes on the colonies. Fleeing Rhode Island, he was appointed Chief Justice of North Carolina (1767–1775). A Loyalist, he returned to England when the Revolution broke out.

Howard was born probably in 1725 and grew up in Rhode Island where his family had moved in 1726. Although raised a Baptists he became active in the Anglican Church in Newport. Elected to the assembly in 1756, he served on the committee that revised the colony's laws in 1760.

In 1765, Howard was appointed by the Crown, jointly with Dr. Moffatt and Augustus Johnson, stamp masters for Rhode Island. They came under attack and their houses were burned. Tax protesters carried his effigy through the streets, hoisting it 15 feet high with a noose around the neck. Howard fled to England and was rewarded by the Crown with an appointment as Chief Justice of North Carolina at a salary of ₤1000.

Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio personality, television host, author, actor and photographer best known for his radio show which was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2005. He gained wide recognition in the 1990s where he was labeled a "shock jock" for his outspoken and sometimes controversial style. Stern has been exclusive to Sirius XM Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service, since 2006. The son of a former recording and radio engineer, Stern wished to pursue a career in radio at the age of five. While at Boston University he worked at the campus station WTBU before a brief stint at WNTN in Newton, Massachusetts.

He developed his on-air personality when he landed positions at WRNW in Briarcliff Manor, WCCC in Hartford and WWWW in Detroit. In 1981, he was paired with his current newscaster and co-host Robin Quivers at WWDC in Washington, D.C. Stern then moved to WNBC in New York City in 1982 to host afternoons until his firing in 1985. He re-emerged on WXRK that year, and became one of the most popular radio personalities during his 20-year tenure at the station. Stern's show is the most-fined radio program, after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued fines to station licensees for allegedly indecent material that totaled $2.5 million. Stern has won Billboard's Nationally Syndicated Air Personality of the Year award eight times, and is one of the highest-paid figures in radio.

Hall Johnson (March 12, 1888 – April 30, 1970) was one of a number of American composers and arrangers—including Harry T. Burleigh, R. Nathaniel Dett, and Eva Jessye—who elevated the African-American spiritual to an art form, comparable in its musical sophistication to the compositions of European Classical composers.

Francis Hall Johnson was born in Athens, Georgia, the son of William Decker Johnson, an A.M.E. minister who also served a term as President of the church-affiliated Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina. Johnson received an extensive education which included a time at the Juilliard School. As a boy, he taught himself to play the violin after hearing a violin recital given by Joseph Henry Douglass, grandson of Frederick Douglass. He went on to play the violin and viola professionally, including in the orchestra for the 1921 musical, Shuffle Along.

In time, however, he became more interested in choral music, forming the Hall Johnson Negro Choir, the first of many choral ensembles, in 1925. Hall Johnson and his choir became renowned through their participation in the 1930 Broadway production of Marc Connelly's The Green Pastures as well as in national and international tours of the play, radio versions, the 1936 film adaptation, and Hallmark Hall of Fame television broadcasts.