Official and Traditional Colors of Oklahoma

Oklahoma formally adopted green and white as its official state colors on February 2, 1915, through House Concurrent Resolution No. 9 — one of the earliest formal state color designations in the nation and among the first acts of cultural symbol-making in a state that had only been admitted to the Union in 1907. The resolution was passed by the House on January 21, 1915 and by the Senate on January 22, 1915. Governor R.L. Williams signed it with notable speed — reportedly within minutes of the resolution reaching his office — on February 2, 1915, in the same civic period reflected by Oklahoma's state motto.

The driving force behind the color selection was the Ohoyohoma Circle, a civic club composed of the wives of members of the Fifth Oklahoma Legislature. The club's name derived from a Choctaw phrase meaning 'women's circle,' honoring Oklahoma's deep Native American heritage — the state was home to the Five Civilized Tribes relocated from the southeastern United States during the Trail of Tears (1830-1850), and Indigenous peoples constitute a higher percentage of Oklahoma's population than almost any other state. The Ohoyohoma Circle recommended green and white to complement mistletoe, then the official state flower, specifically referencing the plant's green leaves and white berries as the basis for the color selection, a trajectory linked to the Sooner State identity.

Oklahoma's green and white carry both botanical and civic meaning that reflects the state's unique position at the intersection of Native American heritage, pioneer settlement history, and agricultural abundance. Green speaks to the rolling plains and forests of the Sooner State — a landscape where the tallgrass prairie, eastern deciduous forest, and western shortgrass plains converge in a state of remarkable ecological diversity. White represents civic purity and the peace symbolized in Oklahoma's state motto, Labor Omnia Vincit ('Work Conquers All Things'), adopted in 1893, and with visual identity details on the Oklahoma state flag page.

Oklahoma's official state colors of green and white do not directly correspond to the Oklahoma state flag's primary visual palette, which uses blue and features a range of colors in the Osage shield, olive branch, calumet, and eagle feathers. This unusual disjunction between state flag colors and state colors reflects the fact that the colors were adopted in 1915, a decade before the 1925 flag. Green and white appear in Oklahoma state government seal details, in the branding of state institutions, and in the interiors of state buildings. The Oklahoma State Capitol, which was under construction when the colors were adopted, features green interior elements consistent with the Ohoyohoma Circle's observation about the prevalence of green in state office furnishings. Oklahoma State University's institutional colors are orange and black, while the University of Oklahoma uses crimson and cream, neither of which matches the official state colors — a common divergence between flagship university colors and state colors, while broader trend context appears in U.S. states by population.