American Samoa

flag of American Samoa
U.S. territory since April 17, 1900

American Samoa became a U.S. territory in April of 1900 and didn’t fly its own flag until exactly sixty years later.

In 1959, Samoana High School held a flag design contest for its students. The winning submission, featuring both U.S. and Samoan imagery, was designed by 19-year-old Uinifareti Rapi Sotoa.

The flag was officially adopted April 17, 1960.

Composition

The American Samoa flag features a field of blue bisected by a red and white fly chevron pointing toward the hoist.

Within the chevron, a bald eagle is charged, a war club (uatogi) and a fly-whisk (fue) in its claws.

In the 2001 North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) flag survey of United States and Canada flags, the flag of American Samoa was ranked 27th out of 72.

flag of American Samoa

Iconography

  • eagle

    eagle

    power, protection, and friendship with the United States

  • war club

    uatogi

    power, government

  • fly-whisk

    fue

    wisdom, tradition

Colors

American Somoa statutes do not mention the territory flag.

The Flags and Anthems Manual for the London 2012 Olympic Games does provide Pantone colors for the American Samoa flag, as specified here.

Blue
#00205b
PMS 281
Red
#ef3340
PMS 032
White
#ffffff
Pantone White
Gold
#ffd100
PMS 109
Brown
#be531c
PMS 167
Black
#000000
Pantone Black

Construction

American Somoa statutes do not mention the territory flag.

It is usually produced with a proportion of 1:1.9.

construction sheet for the flag of American Samoa

Sources