Flag of Oklahoma

What the flag shows

• The blue field. French blue. The Oklahoma Historical Society says the blue comes from a flag carried by Choctaw soldiers during the Civil War.
• The shield. A round Osage warrior’s shield of amber buckskin, modeled on a bison-hide war shield of the Osage chief Black Dog II now held by the Oklahoma Historical Society.
• Six crosses. Small gold-brown crosses on the shield, American Indian symbols for stars.
• Seven eagle feathers. White tipped with gold-brown, hanging from the shield’s lower edge.
• The calumet and olive branch. A peace pipe with a red bowl and tassel, crossed at right angles by a green olive branch, both symbols of peace.
• The name. OKLAHOMA in white letters beneath the shield, added in 1941.

Since 2006 the law has fixed the exact Pantone color of each element.

The first flag

Oklahoma’s first state flag, adopted in 1911 and designed by Ruth D. Clement of Oklahoma City, was a red field with a white five-pointed star edged in blue and the number 46 at its center, for Oklahoma’s place as the 46th state. It was seldom flown, it was criticized for saying little about the state, and after World War I its red field became a liability during the Red Scare.

The 1924 contest

In 1924 the Oklahoma Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, with the support of Governor Martin E. Trapp, ran a contest for a new design. Louise Funk Fluke won with the Osage shield on blue, crossed by symbols of peace, and the Legislature adopted it on April 2, 1925. The word OKLAHOMA was added beneath the shield in 1941, and a 2006 amendment set the standard design and colors.

Saluting the flag

For the 75th anniversary of statehood in 1982, the Legislature approved an official salute: “I salute the flag of the State of Oklahoma. Its symbols of peace unite all people.” Since 1968, Statehood Day, November 16, has also been State Flag Day.