Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III
Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III in front of the octagonal Mau office in Vaimoso village, near Apia, 1929. (Photograph by Alfred James Tattersall)

Tupua Tamasese Lealofi-o-ā'ana III (4 May 1901 – 29 December 1929) was a paramount chief of Samoa, holder of the Tupua Tamasese dynastic title and became the leader of the country's pro-independence Mau movement from early 1928 until his assassination by New Zealand police in 1929. Inspired by his Christian beliefs, traditional customs and culture of Samoa, Lealofi III became one of the first leaders of the 20th century to employ nonviolent resistance against colonial rule which laid the foundations for Samoa's successful campaign for independence, which it attained in 1962.

He was fatally shot by New Zealand police during a peaceful Mau procession in Apia on 28 December 1929, in what became known as Black Saturday.[1]

Mau carrying the coffin of Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III. Standing to the right wearing a single white stripe on his lava-lava, the Mau uniform, is Mata'afa Faumuina Fiame Mulinu'u I, who later became the President of the Mau.
  1. ^ "Black Saturday". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 2 September 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2021.