Tagata Samoa i le Iunaite Sitete | |
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Total population | |
121,585 alone, 0.04% of U.S. population 243,682 including partial ancestry, 0.06% (2021 Census estimates) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
American Samoa Alaska (Anchorage, Barrow), California (Los Angeles County, Orange County, Sacramento County, San Diego County, San Francisco Bay Area), Missouri (Independence), Nevada (Las Vegas), Hawaii, Utah (Salt Lake County, Utah County), Washington (Seattle, Tacoma) | |
Languages | |
American English, Samoan | |
Religion | |
Christianity (Congregationalist, Catholic, Methodist, Assembly of God, Seventh-day Adventist, Mormonism) and various non denomational Christian churches | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Polynesians Tongan Americans |
Samoan Americans are Americans of Samoan origin, including those who emigrated from the United States Territory of American Samoa and immigrants from the Independent State of Samoa to the United States. Samoan Americans are Pacific Islanders in the United States Census, and are the second largest Pacific Islander group in the U.S., after Native Hawaiians.
American Samoa has been an unincorporated territory of the United States since 1900, and Samoa, formally known as the Independent State of Samoa and known as Western Samoa until 1997, is an independent nation that gained its independence from New Zealand in 1962. American Samoa (which is under the jurisdiction of the United States of America) and Samoa together make up the Samoan Islands, an archipelago that covers 1,170 sq mi (3,030 km2). Like Native Hawaiians, the Samoans arrived on the mainland US in the 19th century serving in the US armed forces, fishermen and later worked as agricultural laborers and factory workers.
As per 2021 U.S. Census estimates, there are over 240,000 people of Samoan descent living in the United States, including those of partial ancestry, [1] [2] which is roughly over the population of the Independent State of Samoa, as of 2021. Honolulu, Hawaii, has the largest Samoan population of over 12,000 making up over 2% of the city's population. There are large Samoan communities in Greater Los Angeles, Orange County, California, San Francisco Bay Area, and Greater San Diego counties in the state of California. Other states with cities and towns with significant communities are Alaska, Arizona, Missouri, Oregon, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
Migration from Samoan Islands to the United States began in the 19th century. A small group of Samoans were part of the first Mormon Polynesian colony in the U.S., which was founded in Utah in 1889 and consisted of Samoans, Hawaiian natives, Tahitians, and Maori people. [3]
American Samoa officially became a U.S. territory in 1900 with the Treaty of Cession of Tutuila and in 1904 with the Treaty of Cession of Manu'a. [4]
In the 1920s a small group of Mormons from American Samoa emigrated to the modern United States. They were brought by American Mormons to Laie, Hawaii to assist in building the Mormon Temple of this place. [5] [6] The community grew over the decade and in 1929 there were already 125 American Samoans living in Laie, but the Samoan migration to Hawaii fell in the following years. It was probably due to the crash of 29, the loss of an important rice field for the community, and the Second World War. In the second half of the 1940s about 300 mostly military families of American Samoans emigrated to the United States specifically to Hawaii. [7]
In 1951, nearly 1,000 American Samoans linked with the army (i.e. military personnel and their relatives [8] ) migrated to the Honolulu's American bases by accepting an invitation from the US Navy (which had left its bases in the Pago Pago city, as American Samoa began to be administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior [5] ) so that the Marines could continue working for the Navy. However, many of them later migrated to California (in 1952). [9] [8]
In 1952 the natives of American Samoa become U.S. nationals, although not American citizens, through the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952. [10] This encouraged Samoan emigration to the United States and during the rest of the decade nearly four thousand Samoans migrated to the U.S., mostly to California [11] and Hawaii. Many more Samoans migrated to the United States in the 1960s, surpassing those who emigrated in the previous decade. In fact, the largest Samoan migration to the U.S. occurred at this time (mainly at the beginning of the decade). [12] [8] After 1965 increased migration from Samoa republic. [6] At this time, many Samoans serving in the US military emigrated to be stationed in Hawaii. [7] In the 1970s over 7,540 Western Samoans emigrated to the United States, although the number of people from American Samoa who emigrated to the U.S. is unknown. [13]
In 1972, the number of American Samoans living in the United States exceeded the Samoan population in American Samoa, and California took the place of Tutuila as the main Samoan-populated region. [14] In 1980 over 22,000 Samoa-born lived in the U.S., mostly of Western Samoa (more than 13,200), while 9,300 were from American Samoa. [13]
According to 2021 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, there were 243,682 Samoan people in the United States stateside population, including those who have partial Samoan ancestry. [15] The Samoan American community consists in Americans of both American Samoan and Western Samoan descent.
63,000 people of Samoan origin reside in California, meaning almost one-third of the Samoan population in the U.S. lives in California. 0.2% of California's population is of Samoan descent. The number of those who identify as Samoan alone is 36,443. [16] The percentages and numbers of Samoan people residing in cities listed below vary from 2015 to 2018, according to the "5-Year Estimates Detailed Tables" from the U.S. Census Bureau. [17]
Carson (1.8-2.2%), Compton (0.3-0.5%), and Long Beach (0.7-0.8%), and Paramount (0.7-1%) in Los Angeles County, Oceanside (0.5-0.6%) in San Diego County, and Twentynine Palms (0.9-1.1%) in San Bernardino County have among the highest concentration of Samoans in Southern California, which include those of partial ancestry. [18] Also in San Diego, one of the very first Samoan churches in the entire United States, was founded in 1955 by Rev. Suitonu Galea'i. From there, multiple Samoan churches throughout California branched from the First Samoan Congregational Christian Church of San Diego. [19] [20] [21] There are Samoan communities enumerating several hundred in Moreno Valley (300 to 500) and San Bernardino (400), at least 0.2% of the city’s populations.
Much of San Francisco’s Samoan community is tight-knit live amongst the city’s African American community. The public housing communities as well as residential communities in the Bayview-Hunters Point, Potrero Hill, and Visitacion Valley neighborhoods in southeastern San Francisco are home to much of the city’s Samoan community. As per the 2015-18 estimates, San Francisco is 0.2-0.3% Samoan (1,807-2,262 residents). [18] The 2018 estimate of the number of Samoans in San Francisco is a decrease from the 2000 reported number of Samoans, which was 2,311 (which did not account for people who reported to be part Samoan). [22] In the East Bay Area, San Leandro is home to a sizable Samoan community (0.4%-0.6%), as well as in Daly City (0.4-0.9%), East Palo Alto (1.2-1.3%), and Hayward (0.6%-0.9%). [23] Balboa High School is about 3% Pacific Islander during the 2010s and 2020s and middle and elementary schools, such as Charles Drew Elementary in southeast San Francisco, are rife in Samoans and in general Pacific Islanders; that school of roughly 200 students is 15-25% Pacific Islander, and a similar volume of Islanders go to school at KIPP Bayview and Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School.
In Daly City, Samoan restaurants and businesses are located off Geneva Avenue. In 1972, the First Samoan Congregational Church of San Jose was founded by Rev. Felix T. and Molly T. Ava Molifua, affiliated with Northern California UCC. [19] San Jose has over 3,000 Samoans in residence (0.3%).
Another San Mateo County city, San Bruno, is about one percent Samoan; there are also Samoan communities in nearby South San Francisco and San Mateo proper, although it is more Tongan-populated within its Polynesian community.
In the Central Valley and inland California, where compared to the Bay Area has a slightly smaller percentage of Samoans, higher populations are commonly found in the areas of Modesto (0.2%), Sacramento, and Stockton. The city of Sacramento has over 1,800 to 2,200 Samoans, about 0.4% of its population.
In Central California, Samoan Americans are concentrated in Monterey County, which was home to a U.S. Army base, Fort Ord, which closed in 1994. The populations are concentrated in Marina (0.8-1%) and Seaside (0.4%-0.9%). [18]
The Seattle−Tacoma, Washington area is also home to a sizable Samoan community, especially in the cities of Kent (1.5%), Renton (1%), Federal Way (1.6%), SeaTac (2.9%), and White Center (3.2%). [24] Seattle has 1,500 Samoans, 0.2% of the city's population. [17] The First Samoan Christian Congregational Church in the Washington state was established in 1964 in southeast Seattle, where Samoans settled in the Pacific Northwest. [25] The south Seattle neighborhoods of Columbia City and Rainier Valley have had sizeable Samoan communities since the 1960s and 1970s. Nearly 6,000 people of their descendants reside in Pierce County, Washington, making up 0.7% of the county's population. [26] Tacoma is home to 1,800 Samoans, making up nearly one percent of the city's population. [17]
The Dalles, Oregon has a Samoan community of nearly 200 Samoan people, making up 1.3% of the city's population. [17] Portland, Oregon also has some Samoans, about 500, and Gresham has about the same with of a much smaller population of a city in general, therefore making half a percent of its population.
Utah statewide is 0.6% Samoan including those with some non-Samoan ancestry, and 0.3% are those who identify as Samoan alone. [16] Utah has a history of Samoan immigration dating back to the late 1800s, due to them taking up Mormonism which was preached and influenced to them by missionaries who had come to Polynesian islands. Utah's Mormon community had housing and services for some Polynesian immigrants, which also included Tongans and Maori. Salt Lake City, Utah is home to 1,500 Samoan-origin people, 0.7% of the city's population. [27] Salt Lake County cities such as Kearns (2%), Taylorsville (1.5%), and West Valley City (1.8%) having above average proportions of Samoan people for Utah. There is a sizable Samoan community in Utah County, specifically Provo, which is at least 0.3% Samoan. [17]
There is a Samoan community in Colorado Springs, Colorado of 430 people (0.1%), and Lawton, Oklahoma (0.3%), in which Comanche County, Oklahoma is at least 0.6% Pacific Islander (2010), mainly Samoan.
Las Vegas, Nevada is home to over 1,500 Samoans, 0.2% of the city's population. [17]
Outside the mainland U.S., many Samoan Americans have settled in Hawaii and Alaska. About 2.8% of Hawaiian residents are of Samoan descent, with 1.3% having full Samoan ancestry. Many live on the island of Oahu. Linapuni Street, especially the Kuhio Park Terrace apartments in Honolulu, has the highest concentration of Samoans of any residential area in Hawaii, at 37% of residents. Central Palolo has the highest percentage of any Hawaiian tract, with 4% having a Samoan background. [28] The Oahu town of Laie has 1,380 Samoan Americans, about 21% of the town, one of the highest concentration of Samoan Americas of any town or city in the U.S. [17]
Two percent of people in the city of Anchorage, Alaska are of Samoan descent, with nearly 6,000 living in the city. Alaska has a relatively high proportion of them, comprising about 0.8% of the state's population. [26] [17]
In recent years, the Samoan population has rapidly increased in Alaska. Barrow, Alaska and Whittier, Alaska both are rife in Samoan residents and Samoan churches have become commonly attended in rural Alaska as well.
In the Midwest, a significant Samoan community is in Independence, Missouri, where around 1,000 Samoan people reside (0.9% of the city). In nearby Kansas City, Missouri there lives 340 Samoans, which is 0.1% of the city's population. [17]
In the Eastern United States and Southeastern United States, Samoan communities exist in Fayetteville, North Carolina and Clarksville, Tennessee. [29] There are 365 Samoan-origin people in Prince William County, Virginia, and a Samoan church in Alexandria. [30]
There is a community of Samoans in Liberty County, Georgia.
In Texas, there is a Samoan community prominent in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Euless (0.5%), and a Samoan church in the city of Killeen (0.3%).
Significant numbers of Samoan Americans serve in the U.S. Military. American Samoa has the highest rate of military enlistment of any state or territory. [31]
American football is the most popular sport in American Samoa. Per capita, the Samoan Islands have produced the highest number of National Football League players. In 2010, it was estimated that a boy born to Samoan parents is 56 times more likely to get into the NFL than any other boy in America. [32]
Lists of Americans |
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By US state |
By ethnicity |
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Belmont is a city in San Mateo County in the U.S. state of California. It is in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the San Francisco Peninsula about halfway between San Francisco and San Jose. It was originally part of Rancho de las Pulgas, for which one of its main roads, the Alameda de las Pulgas, is named. The city was incorporated in 1926. Its population was 28,335 at the 2020 census.
Broadmoor is a census-designated place (CDP) in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, California, United States. The enclave is entirely surrounded by Daly City. The population was 4,176 at the 2010 census.
Laie is a census-designated place (CDP) located in the Koolauloa District on the island of Oahu in Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States. In Hawaiian, lāʻie means "ʻie leaf". The population was 5,963 at the 2020 census.
The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S. states of California, Oregon, and Washington, but it occasionally includes Alaska and Hawaii in bureaucratic usage. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau considers both states to be part of a larger U.S. geographic division.
The Western United States is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau.
In 45 of the 50 states of the United States, the county is used for the level of local government immediately below the state itself. Louisiana uses parishes, and Alaska uses boroughs. In Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, some or all counties within states have no governments of their own; the counties continue to exist as legal entities, however, and are used by states for some administrative functions and by the United States Census bureau for statistical analysis. There are 3,242 counties and county equivalent administrative units in total, including the District of Columbia and 100 county-equivalents in the U.S. territories.
Laie Hawaii Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located on the northeast shore of the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. The temple sits on a small hill, half a mile from the Pacific Ocean, in the town of Lāʻie, 35 miles (56 km) from Honolulu. Along with Brigham Young University–Hawaii and the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Laie Hawaii Temple plays an important role in the town of Lā'ie, with the Visitors' Center attracting more than 100,000 people annually.
Iosepa is a ghost town in the Skull Valley, located approximately 75 miles (120 km) southwest of Salt Lake City in Tooele County, Utah, United States. Once home to over 200 Polynesian members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Iosepa was inhabited during the period 1889–1917. Today, it is the site of an annual Memorial Day gathering that draws islanders and others from all over the Western United States.
Pacific Islander Americans are Americans who are of Pacific Islander ancestry. For its purposes, the United States census also counts Aboriginal Australians as part of this group.
California is the most populous US state, with an estimated population of 38.9 million as of 2023. It has people from a wide variety of ethnic, racial, national, and religious backgrounds.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established in the Hawaiian Islands in 1850, 11 years after the Edict of Toleration was decreed by Kamehameha III, giving the underground Hawaii Catholic Church the right to worship, and at the same time allowing other faith traditions to begin establishing themselves.
Deseret is a census-designated place in Millard County, Utah, United States. The population was 353 at the 2010 census. Deseret is located approximately 10 miles (16 km) southwest of Delta, and about 150 miles (240 km) southwest of Salt Lake City. The name Deseret comes from the Book of Mormon.
Asian/Pacific American (APA) or Asian/Pacific Islander (API) or Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) or Asian American and Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islander (AANHPI) is a term sometimes used in the United States when including both Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.
Spring Glen is a census-designated place in Carbon County, in eastern Utah, United States. The population was 1,054 at the 2020 census. Founded in 1878, Spring Glen was the first permanent settlement in what is now Carbon County. First settled principally by white Mormon farmers, the community became much more diverse after about 1890, when the development of the area's coal mines brought an influx of immigrants from Southern Europe and other regions.
Tongan Americans are Americans who can trace their ancestry to Tonga, officially known as the Kingdom of Tonga. There are approximately 57,000 Tongans and Tongan Americans living in the United States, as of 2012. Tongans are considered to be Pacific Islanders in the United States Census, and are the country's fourth largest Pacific Islander American group in terms of population, after Native Hawaiians, Samoan Americans, and Guamanian/Chamorro Americans.
Pacific Islanders have a particular place in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Its first non-English-speaking mission was in the region in 1844, less than twenty years after the church's founding, and there are currently six temples among the Pacific Island regions of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. In 2015 the Latter-day Saint population in the area was increasing in percentage and absolute numbers.
Fijian Americans refers to Americans citizens who are native to or descendants of people from the Fiji Islands. Most of Fijian Americans are of ethnic iTaukei or Indian descent. Fijian Americans are considered Pacific Islanders in the United States Census. There are 32,304 Fijian Americans living in the U.S. as of 2010, with 75% of them living in the state of California alone, especially in Sacramento County. The American Community Survey 2015-2019 counted a Fijian immigrant population of 47,000.
French Polynesian American are Americans with French Polynesian ancestry. The number of French Polynesian Americans is unknown. According to the 2010 US census, there were 5,062 people whose origins are in Tahiti, but other origins of the French Polynesia were not mentioned. While others 9,153 people asserted be of Polynesian origins, but they indicated no specific origin.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The 2020 United States Census reported that San Francisco had a population of 873,965—an increase from the 2010 Census count of 805,235. The 2022 Census Bureau American Community Survey put the population at 808,437: a decrease of 65,528 from 2020. With a population density of 18,633 per square mile (7,194/km2), San Francisco is the second-most densely populated major American city, behind only New York.