On American Samoa’s flag, the eagle clutches a war club and a fly-whisk.
The bald eagle holds two traditional Samoan objects: a uatogi, or war club, and a fue, a fly-whisk associated with chiefly authority and wisdom. Together they symbolize both the power to defend the territory and the ability to negotiate or govern with judgment.
The eagle represents American Samoa’s relationship with the United States, while the red, white and blue palette links American and Samoan traditions. The eagle is a bald eagle even though that species is not native to the islands; it serves as a political and symbolic reference to the United States.
The flag was adopted on April 17, 1960, replacing the U.S. flag as American Samoa’s official territorial flag. A frequent mistake is to identify the second object as a paddle or spear. Its distinctive form is a fue, the fly-whisk carried by Samoan chiefs.