The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture

STATE FLAGS OF OKLAHOMA.

Upon its admission to the Union on November 16, 1907, Oklahoma did not adopt a state flag. Rather, in 1908 Gov. Charles N. Haskell commissioned ninety-two women from across the state, including First Lady Lillian Elizabeth Haskell, to sew a United States flag with forty-six stars to commemorate Oklahoma statehood. The group worked in the Carnegie Library in Guthrie. Once completed, the flag traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where it was raised over Independence Hall on July 4, 1908.

Oklahoma adopted its first state flag in 1911 at a time when many states were designating official state banners and codifying rituals concerning the display and observance of the United States flag. The first state flag, designed by Ruth D. Clement of Oklahoma City, comprised a red field with a white, five-pointed star edged in blue and centered in the field. The number “46,” set in center of the star, signified Oklahoma’s admission to the Union as the forty-sixth state.

This flag was rarely displayed, and many argued that it failed to convey the state’s cultural and historic distinctiveness. The flag’s red field was also caught up in the wake of the Red Scare after World War I. In 1919 the Oklahoma legislature prohibited the carrying of or display of “any red flag or other emblem or banner” with an intent to promote a radical political ideology or treason against the United States (OS 21 § 374). There is no evidence that the first state flag was embraced by political subversives or associated with treasonous activity during this period. Nevertheless, growing criticism of anything associated with radical politics and organized labor as “red” prompted some in Oklahoma to condemn the first state flag, believing it to be a poor reflection of a young, patriotic state.

In 1924 the Oklahoma Society Daughters of the American Revolution sponsored a competition to design a new state flag. The contest had the support of Gov. Martin Edwin Trapp and other state leaders and officials such as Joseph Bradfield Thoburn of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Word of the competition spread through the organization’s state chapters, and designs were submitted to a committee chaired by Ella K. Fleming of Enid and Josephine S. Hickam of Oklahoma City. The winner was created by Louise Funk Fluke of Shawnee. Her concept depicted a field of blue in which was centered an Osage war shield with six painted crosses and seven pendant eagle feathers, and with the entire shield overlaid by a crossed calumet and an olive branch. The legislature approved this design for the Oklahoma state flag on April 2, 1925. 

The legislature has altered the flag only a few times since 1925. The most significant change occurred in 1941 when the legislature added “OKLAHOMA” in white letters under the shield. Display of the flag at public administrative buildings and schools became mandatory in 1953. To commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of statehood, the legislature approved an official flag salute in 1982: “I salute the flag of the State of Oklahoma. Its symbols of peace unite all people.” The flag’s details and colors were standardized in 2006. Oklahoma State Flag Day is November 16, also known as Statehood Day. Laws concerning the design, display, and salute of the Oklahoma state flag are under Title 25 of Oklahoma Statutes.

Matthew Pearce