American Legion Auxiliary Junior members attending the national Junior meetings across the country have learned the Pledge of Allegiance in American Sign Language (ASL).

“It’s been on my radar for a long time,” said ALA National Headquarters Senior Program Coordinator Kristin Hinshaw.

She had seen a document showing how to do it on The American Legion’s website and then saw a Facebook post of Illinois Juniors learning how to sign it. If two kids can teach other Juniors, National Headquarters can teach this too, she said. 

After learning that a couple of staff members already knew how to sign the pledge, a video was made so all of the Juniors attending the meeting could learn it together. 

“It was a big hit, and the kids loved it,” Hinshaw said. “It’s in the agenda to come back to it a couple of times during the meeting for the kids to practice together on site and learn it.”

Hinshaw encourages senior members who had a Junior attend one of the meetings to ask that Junior to demonstrate how to do the pledge in ASL.

Learning this is a positive educational tool for participants.  

“The pledge is important to members, and this helps open it up to more people,” Hinshaw said.