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United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee - Oklahoma (U.S.)

Native American

image by Donald Healy, 1 February 2008

The band
The flag

See also:

The Band

map image by Peter Orenski based on input from Don Healy

United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee - Oklahoma

The Keetoowah Cherokee are a political entity separate from the Cherokee Nation although both are based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The Keetoowah are recognized federally as a separate Tribe, as is common among tribes that have geographically separated branches, but it is unique to have separate recognition for bands of the same tribe in the same location.

The Flag

The tribal seal was originally adopted in 1968 and modified in 1991. The tribal flag places the seal on a white background, signifying that the Keetoowah people are at peace. The current chief, John Ross, explains the seal of the Keetoowah as three circles surrounding a central blue disk (seal provided by the United Keetoowah Band). The outer circle contains nineteen black seven-pointed stars on green. The middle circle has "UNITED KEETOOWAH BAND" above, and the same in Cherokee script below, in black on orange. The inner circle contains eleven black seven-pointed stars on yellow. The central light blue disk features a seven-pointed star, with its points divided red-yellow and surrounded by a green oak-branch wreath. Around the central seal in the field are four black seven-pointed stars. These four stars recall the cardinal directions, a recurring theme in Native flags and seals, although these stars are oriented to the northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest.

Chief Ross explained that the thirty black stars within the rings stand for the extinguished campfires of the original Keetoowah villages in their homelands of North Carolina and Georgia. They act as a reminder of the Keetoowah's ties to their original lands. The three circles stand for the colorful history of the Keetoowah. The seven-pointed central star, as used by many Cherokee bands, stands for the seven original clans of the Cherokee, while the oak branches symbolize strength [see Cherokee of Oklahoma, Chickamauga Cherokee].

© Donald Healy 2008
information provided by Peter Orenski, 1 February 2008

image located by Daniel Rentería, 10 January 2023
Source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/cherokee-nation-official-flag-3849203831
Reverse of postcard archived here, with description:

The Official flag of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Adopted and officialized April 6, 1968. [not 5 April] Designed and made by the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma. A Federally Chartered Corporation of the Cherokee Tribe - Copyrights reserved by the Band - William C. Glory (Chief).

It seems the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma did have another flag. As seen on this postcard, it says a white flag with the Nation's seal was adopted and made official on April 6, 1968. It was designed and made by the United Keetowah Band of Cherokee Indians of Oklahoma. Of course, this seems to have fallen out of use upon the adoption of the new flag in 1978.
Daniel Rentería, 10 January 2023

There are currently (2025) Three U.S. federally recognized Cherokee Nations: The largest of the three tribes, based in Oklahoma, that is the one people regularly think of as "the Cherokee", but there are two others as well, while the are all descents of the same peoples, the process of removal and forced removals split the nation as it did to others.
1.) Cherokee Nation: The largest of the three tribes, based in Oklahoma.
2.) United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians: Also based in Oklahoma.
3.) Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians: Located in North Carolina.

I am speculating that the flag in the image from the postcard mentioned was the FIRST flag of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee 1968-1991, and the one shown above is the flag adopted after the modifications of the seal in 1991.

Some details from the entry in World Statesman for the United Keetoowah Band:

29 Apr 1859 Keetoowah Society in the Cherokee Nation organized by the Cherokee full-bloods (its members were mostly descendants of "Old Settlers" or "Western Cherokees," those Cherokees who migrated from the Southeast to present-day Arkansas and Oklahoma around 1817, before the forced relocation of Cherokees by the U.S in the late 1830s under the Indian Removal Act).
9 Jun 1939 Society re-organized as the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians (Anigiduwagi Aniyvwiya), a federally chartered corporation of the Cherokee Tribe.
10 Aug 1946 U.S. Federal recognition granted, becomes a tribe by its own.
3 Oct 1950 Constitution ratified.

United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee government website: https://www.ukb-nsn.gov
Ben Cahoon, 23 June 2024

I can confirm this white flag is not used at all in the Nation. The flag that is currently in use is Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma. My city borders Oklahoma and when you cross the state line, you also enter into Cherokee Nation and I see their flag at the casino that is right on the border.
Zachary Harden, 18 October 2025