Flag of Arkansas
Arkansas’s flag is red with a white diamond edged by a blue band of 25 white stars, with the word ARKANSAS and four blue stars across it. The Encyclopedia of Arkansas says the diamond marks the nation’s only diamond-producing state and the 25 white stars the 25th state admitted to the Union; three of the blue stars came with the 1913 design and the fourth was added in 1923 for Arkansas’s membership in the Confederate States of America.
How to read it
Arkansas Code § 1-4-101, as amended by Act 1205 of 2011, describes the flag: a red rectangle with a large white diamond, bordered by a wide blue band on which are 25 white stars, and across the diamond the word “ARKANSAS” and four blue stars, one above the word, just below the diamond’s upper corner, and three below it, one above the lower corner and two placed symmetrically above it to the left and right. The same act fixed the colours as those of the United States flag, Old Glory Red and Old Glory Blue “or its equivalent”, and requires an official state flag to be made in the United States; the governor approved it on 5 April 2011. The law sets no proportions. The General Assembly adopted the design on 26 February 1913. It was drawn by Willie Kavanaugh Hocker of Wabbaseka, chosen from some 65 entries in a contest the Pine Bluff chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution ran after learning, when it wanted to give a state flag to the new battleship USS Arkansas, that the state had none.
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What the blue stars stand for
Hocker’s design had three blue stars in the diamond, which carried three meanings at once, the Encyclopedia of Arkansas says: the three countries Arkansas had belonged to before statehood (France, Spain and the United States), 1803 as the year of the Louisiana Purchase, which included Arkansas, and Arkansas as the third state made from the Purchase. The selection committee asked for the state’s name on the flag, and Hocker suggested setting one star above it and two below.
In 1923 the General Assembly added a fourth star, for Arkansas’s membership in the Confederate States of America. The stars were first set two above the name and two below; a second extraordinary session in 1924 put one above and three below, the lower three as an inverted triangle. The encyclopedia says this added a new meaning: the two stars directly under the name stand for Arkansas and Michigan, admitted to the Union about seven months apart, which kept the balance of free and slave states in Congress. It notes that the Arkansas Code has the two states admitted together on 15 June 1836, when Michigan in fact joined on 26 January 1837.
Read next
- Next in US state flagsFlag of DelawareDelaware’s flag is colonial blue with a buff diamond holding the state coat of arms, and the date December 7, 1787 beneath it: the day Delaware became the first state to ratify the US Constitution. The State of Delaware says that, according to members of the commission that designed it, the shades of buff and blue are those of General George Washington’s uniform.
- The same shape in South American flagsFlag of BrazilBrazil’s flag is a yellow diamond on green holding a blue globe of 27 white stars, the sky over Rio de Janeiro on the morning of 15 November 1889, crossed by a white band with the motto ORDEM E PROGRESSO (“Order and Progress”). Each star stands for a state or the Federal District; the 1889 flag decree said the green and yellow, kept from the empire, recall the victories of the army and navy.
More US state flags
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols drawn with diamonds, letters and numbers, squares and rectangles or stars.
Sources
- Arkansas Act 1205 of 2011 (House Bill 1546), state flag, Arkansas General Assembly, Act 1205 of the Regular Session 2011 (House Bill 1546), “An Act to specify the colors of the state flag and require that it be made in the United States”, amending Ark. Code § 1-4-101, Arkansas General Assembly, Sections 1 and 2; approval date
- Official State Flag (Encyclopedia of Arkansas), David Ware, “Official State Flag”, CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Central Arkansas Library System, Entry text
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 14, 2026. How we research
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