Flag of Oklahoma

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Flag of Oklahoma

The flag of Oklahoma consists of a traditional Osage Nation buffalo-skin shield with seven eagle feathers on a sky blue field.

The Osage shield is covered by two symbols of peace: the peace pipe or calumet representing Native Americans, and the olive branch representing whites. Six golden brown crosses, Native American symbols for stars, are spaced on the shield. The blue field represents the first official flag flown by any Native American Nation, the Choctaw flag of the American Civil War.

First state flag of Oklahoma, 1911–1925

Oklahoma's first flag was adopted in 1911, four years after statehood. Taking the colors red, white, and blue from the flag of the United States, the flag featured a large centered white star fimbriated in blue on a red field. The number 46 was written in blue inside the star, as Oklahoma was the forty-sixth state to join the Union.

A contest was held in 1924 to replace the flag, as Red flags were closely associated with communism. The winning entry, which was adopted as the state flag on 2 April 1925, resembled the current flag without the word Oklahoma on it. The state's name was added to the flag in 1941. The colors and shapes were standardized by Oklahoma Senate Bill 1359^[1] and signed into law by Governor Brad Henry on May 23, 2006.

It is now arguably a crime to fly the original state flag in Oklahoma, since state law makes it a felony to fly a red flag in the state.^[2]