Firefighter Leads The Pledge Of Allegiance, Spoken And In Sign Language

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President Elect Joe Biden and invited guests stand for the national anthem and pledge of allegiance at the inauguration ceremony on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

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Rob Carr/Getty Images

President Elect Joe Biden and invited guests stand for the national anthem and pledge of allegiance at the inauguration ceremony on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.

Rob Carr/Getty Images

Andrea Hall, a career firefighter and union leader from Fulton County, Ga., led the Pledge of Allegiance during the inauguration of President-elect Biden.

Hall recited the familiar words of the pledge out loud, while also leading the pledge in American Sign Language.

According to The 19th, Hall was the first Black woman hired and assigned to a station at the City of Albany Fire Department, and then the first Black woman to serve as fire captain at Fulton County Fire Rescue. She was a rare woman in an industry dominated by men — just 1% of firefighters were women when she transferred in to Fulton County, The 19th reports.

«I just am intending to represent, my family, the city of South Fulton, women, African-American women, firefighters, and everyone in the nation, well,» Hall told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hall presented the pledge in sign language, which is unusual for an inauguration. Biden’s Presidential Inaugural Committee has made accessibility a stated priority, and is providing ASL interpretation, live closed captioning and audio descriptions for the day’s events.

• pledge of allegiance
• sign language
• firefighters