Flag: American Samoa Emoji

The flag of American Samoa: a dark blue field with a red-edged white triangle pointing to the hoist, charged with a bald eagle clutching a uatogi (war club) and a fue (fly-whisk). Adopted April 17, 1960, sixty years to the day after the first US flag was raised on Sogelau Hill in Pago Pago, marking the Deed of Cession of Tutuila. The eagle signals US sovereignty; the Samoan regalia signal fa'a Sāmoa, the traditional way. The design reads: 'we compromise, but we can defend ourselves.'

American Samoa itself is seven islands and atolls in the South Pacific, about 40 miles southeast of independent 🇼🇸 Samoa and 2,600 miles south of Hawaii. Total land is 199 square kilometers, population 43,268 as of 2025, down from a peak above 64,000 in 2000. The territory is unique in one way that shapes most political coverage of it: Americans born in American Samoa are US nationals but not US citizens at birth, the only US territory where this is still the case, with a disclaimer printed in all caps on their passports. Added to Emoji 1.0 (2015) via Regional Indicator Sequence U+1F1E6U+1F1E6 (A) + U+1F1F8U+1F1F8 (S) = ISO 3166-1 code ASAS.

🇦🇸 runs on four tracks. First, the diaspora: roughly 180,000 people of Samoan descent live stateside (Hawaii, California, Utah, Washington state, Alaska), four times the home population. The flag is an everyday bio emoji there. Second, football: American Samoa is nicknamed 'Football Island' because a boy born to Samoan parents is roughly 56 times more likely to play in the NFL than any other American boy. 🇦🇸 shows up in NFL-draft threads, combine posts, and Junior Seau and Troy Polamalu tribute content.

Third, military. American Samoans enlist at roughly triple the US per-capita rate, and Memorial Day and Veterans Day threads lean heavily on 🇦🇸. Fourth, Flag Day, April 17: the single biggest 🇦🇸 day of the year, commemorating the 1900 cession. Pago Pago fills with fautasi longboat races and the territory's biggest parade. Expect a predictable mid-April annual spike on social.

The 1960 flag replaced a prior territorial banner and was officially unveiled on April 17 to mark 60 years since the US flag first rose on Sogelau Hill in 1900. The designer was Uinifareti Rapi Sotoa, a Samoan artist. Every element was negotiated by a flag committee of matai chiefs and territorial officials: colors borrowed from the US flag, geometry borrowed from Samoan fa'a matai iconography, and a bald eagle, a bird that does not naturally occur in the islands, added to signal US sovereignty.

What the eagle holds is where the flag's whole philosophy lives. The uatogi (war club) represents governmental authority and the matai's right to defend his aiga (family) and village. The fue (fly-whisk) represents the wisdom expected of a matai and the authority to speak in a fono (council). Together they translate a proverbial fa'a Sāmoa teaching: Samoans prefer compromise, but they can defend themselves when the moment requires it. A copy of the flag was carried to the moon during the Apollo missions and now sits at the Jean P. Haydon Museum in Pago Pago.

The political context is more contested than the flag's folkloric story suggests. Americans born in American Samoa are US nationals but not US citizens at birth, the only US territory where this is still the case. Their passports carry a disclaimer in all caps: 'THE BEARER IS A UNITED STATES NATIONAL AND NOT A UNITED STATES CITIZEN.' In 2019, John Fitisemanu and two co-plaintiffs won at the US District Court in Utah on the argument that the Fourteenth Amendment's citizenship clause covers American Samoa. The Tenth Circuit reversed; in October 2022 the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. American Samoa's own delegate to Congress welcomed the denial, arguing that forced citizenship would threaten fa'a Sāmoa and the communal land system. The flag keeps flying over a community that is deliberate about being American on its own terms.

Regional Indicator Sequence U+1F1E6U+1F1E6 (A) + U+1F1F8U+1F1F8 (S), matching American Samoa's ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code "AS". Added in Emoji 1.0 (2015). On Windows, this renders as the letters "AS" rather than the flag image, the same policy that applies to every country flag. Shortcodes: :flag_as::flag_as: (Slack), :american_samoa::american_samoa: (Discord), :flag-as::flag-as: (GitHub).

1. 1722Dutch navigator Jacob Roggeveen sights the Samoan islands
2. 1872US Navy signs a treaty with Tutuila chiefs to use Pago Pago as a coaling station
3. 1899Tripartite Convention splits Samoa: the US gets eastern islands, Germany gets western, Britain gets compensation elsewhere
4. 1900April 17: Deed of Cession of Tutuila signed at Gagamoe. US flag raised on Sogelau Hill the same day↗
5. 1904Manu'a Islands (Ofu, Olosega, Ta'u) ceded under a separate Deed of Cession
6. 1951US Navy closes Pago Pago base. First large wave of Samoan migration to Hawaii and the mainland begins
7. 1960April 17: Current territorial flag adopted. 60-year anniversary of the first US flag raising↗
8. 1969A copy of the flag is carried on an Apollo mission to the moon
9. 1988National Park of American Samoa established. Only US national park south of the equator↗
10. 2015Flag: American Samoa formalized in Emoji 1.0↗
11. 2019Fitisemanu v. United States: District Court rules American Samoans are birthright US citizens. Tenth Circuit later reverses↗
12. 2022US Supreme Court declines to hear Fitisemanu; American Samoa's congressional delegate welcomes the denial↗
13. 2026Flag Day April 17 tied to Freedom 250 commemoration with Tafuna Stadium student floats

On Tutuila and the Manu'a Islands, 🇦🇸 is a church-Sunday and Flag-Day emoji more than a daily bio flag. Social media is Facebook-heavy, Messenger-heavy, and family-group-chat-heavy. The flag spikes around the US civic calendar (Memorial Day, Flag Day on April 17, Veterans Day) and the island-specific dates (Manu'a Cession Day on July 16, White Sunday in October).

From the US mainland and Hawaii, 🇦🇸 is a diaspora identity flag. Roughly 180,000 Samoans live stateside, more than four times the home population. In Oceanside, Long Beach, Salt Lake City, Seattle, and Waipahu, the flag appears in bios alongside 🇼🇸 (for people with family across both Samoas), in NFL draft posts, in military ceremony photos, and in church-community coverage. Note the important distinction from 🇼🇸 Samoa: 🇦🇸 is the US-territory flag; 🇼🇸 is the independent nation. Many Samoan families claim both.

Outside the diaspora, 🇦🇸 shows up mostly in NFL coverage, US military coverage, and occasional reporting on the citizenship case. Travel posts are rarer than you might expect: the National Park of American Samoa averages about 12,000 visitors a year, making it one of the least-visited US national parks.

• 🎌
  April 17: Flag Day: Marks the 1900 Deed of Cession. Parade at Tafuna Stadium, fautasi races in Pago Pago harbor, diaspora returns home in force.
• 🎖️
  Last Monday of May: Memorial Day: American Samoans enlist at roughly triple the US per-capita rate; Memorial Day threads lean on 🇦🇸 heavily.
• 🇺🇸
  July 4: US Independence Day: Fireworks over Pago Pago harbor, Tutuila-wide cookouts.
• 🏝️
  July 16: Manu'a Cession Day: Marks the 1904 cession of the Manu'a Islands (Ofu, Olosega, Ta'u).
• ⛪
  Second Sunday of October: White Sunday (Lotu Tamaiti): The Children's Sunday shared across both Samoas. Kids in white lead church services.
• 🎗️
  November 11: Veterans Day: Heavy territorial attendance given American Samoa's enlistment rate.

• •American Samoa's Flag Day (April 17) marks the exact date the US flag was first raised in 1900 on Sogelau Hill in Fagatogo.
• •The 1960 flag was adopted exactly 60 years after that first flag-raising, a deliberate anniversary choice.
• •The bald eagle on the flag does not naturally occur in American Samoa; the fautasi longboat and fia'i fish would have been more accurate, but the eagle signaled the US tie.
• •The National Park of American Samoa is the only US national park south of the equator and averages about 12,000 visitors a year, one of the least-visited in the park system.
• •The park's land is leased from local village matais on 50-year terms rather than owned by the federal government.
• •The world's tallest sea cliffs, up to 3,000 feet, rise from the southern shore of Ta'u Island.
• •American Samoans enlist in the US military at roughly triple the US per-capita rate, one of the highest rates of any US state or territory.
• •The Pago Pago StarKist tuna cannery remains the territory's largest private-sector employer, though it operates with federal wage waivers due to territorial cost structures.