'''Samuel Sailele Ripley''' (November 22, 1883 – July 8, 1961) was a leader of the [[Mau movement in American Samoa|Mau movement]] in [[American Samoa]], which sought resistance to U.S. colonial rule in the early 20th century. For his involvement, he was deported, barred, and exiled from his homeland by the U.S. government.<ref name="Barker05">{{cite book |last1=Barker |first1=Joanne |title=Sovereignty matters: locations of contestation and possibility in indigenous struggles for self-determination |date=2005 |publisher=University of Nebraska Press |location=Lincoln |isbn=9780803251984 |page=119}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Minahan |first1=James |title=The complete guide to national symbols and emblems |date=2010 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Santa Barbara, California |isbn=9780313344978 |page=10}}</ref> On July 1, 1940, he became the mayor of [[Richmond, California]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Asian Pacific American Heritage - Prince George's County Memorial Library System |url=https://pgcmls.info/asian-pacific-american-heritage |website=pgcmls.info}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nHp7-BTy57MC&q=sovereignty+matters+taulapapa&pg=PA109|title="Passive Resistance of Samoans to U.S. Colonialism" essay (Published in "Sovereignty Matters: Locations of Contestation and Possibility in Indigenous Struggles for Self-Determination" Editor Joanne Barker, 2006)|date=December 2005|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=9780803251984}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitnah |first1=Joseph C. |title=A History of Richmond, California |date=2012 |publisher=Richmond Chamber of Commerce |isbn=9781258475628 |page=52}}</ref>
Ripley returned home to [[Leone, American Samoa|Leone]] in July 1920, at a pivotal moment when tensions surrounding the Mau movement were escalating. By that time, the movement, which had arisen in February 1920 to oppose the U.S. Naval Administration, was gaining momentum, and Ripley aligned himself with its cause.<ref name=Gray60>{{cite book |last1=Gray |first1=John Alexander Clinton |title=Amerika Samoa - History Of American Samoa And Its United States Naval Administration |date=1960 |publisher=[[United States Naval Institute]] |isbn=9780870210747 |edition=1st}}</ref>{{rp|194,196-197}} The movement was suppressed by the U.S. government, which led to his exile.<ref name="Barker05"/>
Ripley was the first Samoan to be barred from entering the land of his birth.<ref>Sunia, Fofō Iosefa Fiti (2001). ''Puputoa: Host of Heroes - A record of the history makers in the First Century of American Samoa, 1900-2000''. Suva, Fiji: Oceania Printers. Page 116. ISBN 9829036022.</ref> Both C.S. Hannum and [[Arthur A. Greene]] worked with the Ripleys to obtain approval for a land development project in Leone.<ref>Sunia, Fofō Iosefa Fiti (2001). ''Puputoa: Host of Heroes - A record of the history makers in the First Century of American Samoa, 1900-2000''. Suva, Fiji: Oceania Printers. Page 50. ISBN 9829036022.</ref><ref>Shaffer, Robert J. (2000). ''American Samoa: 100 Years Under the United States Flag''. Island Heritage. Page 149. {{ISBN|978-0-89610-339-9}}.</ref>
==Early life== Samuel Ripley, the eldest son of E.V. Ripley of [[New York (state)|New York]] and a mother from the Le’oso family of [[Leone, American Samoa|Leone]], was born in Leone, American Samoa. In 1904, he moved to California and enlisted in the U.S. Army, later serving in Europe during World War I. After his military service, he spent some time working in New York before returning to California, where he married Madge.<ref>Sunia, Fofō Iosefa Fiti (2001). ''Puputoa: Host of Heroes - A record of the history makers in the First Century of American Samoa, 1900-2000''. Suva, Fiji: Oceania Printers. Page 115. ISBN 9829036022.</ref>
==Mau movement==
After World War I, a member of the Ripley family from [[Leone, American Samoa|Leone]] — or possibly a relative connected to them overseas — proposed the idea of forming a family corporation focused on planting and trading. The Ripley family traced its lineage to E.V.P. Ripley of [[New York (state)|New York]], who had settled in Leone in the mid-19th century after marrying a Samoan woman. Samuel S. Ripley, a descendant, had moved to California in 1904. During World War I, he served as a U.S. Army sergeant stationed in France and later worked as an electrician at the [[Mare Island Naval Shipyard]]. His wife, Madge A. Ripley, a University of California graduate from California, was employed as a secretary to attorney [[C.S. Hannum]] in [[Richmond, California]]. While the plan to develop family lands might have been viable in the United States or [[Hawai‘i]], it encountered significant obstacles in American Samoa. The Native Lands Ordinance of 1900 prohibited the alienation of Samoan lands, and the U.S. Navy's [[copra]] monopoly rendered such ventures unfeasible, even on a small scale.<ref name=Gray60/>{{rp|193}}
In July 1920, Samuel Ripley returned to American Samoa from California, marking his first visit since leaving in 1904. His goal was to establish a new copra plantation using family lands in Leone, but he quickly ran into government opposition, as such business ventures were prohibited. In response, Ripley aligned himself with the [[Mau movement in American Samoa|Mau movement]] and enlisted C.S. Hannum, his wife's employer in California, as the movement's legal counsel. Hannum initiated extensive correspondence between Samoa and Washington, D.C., advising Ripley to challenge the legitimacy of U.S. Navy rule in Samoa, arguing it was unofficial and thereby invalidated its laws and taxes. The Ripleys sought a full congressional investigation to halt the exploitation of Samoans by the U.S. From July to November 1920, Ripley was involved with the Mau movement until he and his wife were deported by Governor [[Waldo A. Evans]]. Nearly a year later, on August 15, 1921, Ripley attempted to re-enter American Samoa but was intercepted at the [[Pago Pago, American Samoa|Pago Pago]] dock and deported a second time due to his involvement in the Mau movement.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chappell |first1=David A. |title=The Forgotten Mau: Anti-Navy Protest in American Samoa, 1920-1935 |journal=Pacific Historical Review |date=2000 |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=217–260 |doi=10.2307/3641439 |jstor=3641439 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3641439 |issn=0030-8684|url-access=subscription }}</ref>{{rp|239-240}}
Ripley expressed his frustrations in an article published on October 11, 1921, in the ''Record-Herald'' and in a piece for ''The Nation'' titled "Our American Autocracy in Samoa." His wife, Madge, contributed by writing a detailed letter to Mrs. [[Warren G. Harding]], sharing her perspective on the situation. The Ripleys also addressed various men's and women's clubs and organizations in California, encouraging their members to protest the U.S. Naval Administration's actions in Samoa. Their efforts led to a wave of letters sent to the President and the U.S. Secretary of the Navy, denouncing the administration's methods as un-American.<ref name=Gray60/>{{rp|203}}
==References== <references/>
[[Category:1883 births]] [[Category:1961 deaths]] [[Category:American Samoan activists]] [[Category:American people of Samoan descent]] [[Category:American Samoan businesspeople]] [[Category:Mayors of Richmond, California]]