KMUW | By Suzanne Perez
Kiah Duggins, 30, graduated from East High and Wichita State University before going on to earn her law degree from Harvard Law School.
WICHITA, Kansas — A civil rights attorney who grew up in Wichita was among the 64 people on American Airlines Flight 5342 who perished after it crashed into the Potomac River.
Kiah Duggins, 30, was on her way home to Washington, D.C., where she worked as an attorney for the Civil Rights Corps. She had been in Wichita to be with her mother during a surgical procedure.
Duggins’ family members confirmed Thursday that she was onboard the flight.
Duggins was born in Wichita and graduated from the International Baccalaureate program at Wichita East High School before attending Wichita State University as a Clay Barton Scholar.
She went on to earn a degree from Harvard Law School, where she served as president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau.
She was the daughter of Maurice and Gwen Duggins. Maurice Duggins is a family practice doctor in Wichita, and Gwen is a retired educator.
In a texted statement Thursday, Maurice Duggins said, “We are coming to terms with the grief associated with the loss of our beautiful and accomplished firstborn. Please respect our family’s privacy at this time.”
Annie Montgomery, minister of Tabernacle Bible Church in Wichita, said she will always remember Kiah Duggins’ bright smile and her zest for life.
“Kiah was the most beautiful young lady inside and out,” Montgomery said. “She was adventurous. She made friends so easily. She had the kind of personality that you just could not resist.
“She loved traveling. She loved making friends with people from all over the world, and she did just that.”
In a Facebook post, former Sedgwick County Commissioner Lacey Cruse called the news of Duggins’ death “devastating.”
“She was a brave and beautiful soul, a light in the fight for civil rights,” Cruse said. “Her loss is heartbreaking, not only for her family and friends but for everyone who believes in justice and equality.”
During her time at Wichita State, Duggins served as a White House intern under former First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let Girls Learn” initiative.
She also competed in scholarship pageants and was named Miss Butler County in 2014. She went on to be one of the top 10 finalists at the Miss Kansas pageant.
She co-founded the Shocker Food Locker campus food pantry and the Wichita State Inspire outreach initiative, and was an ambassador for diversity and inclusion.
Montgomery said Duggins dreamed of becoming a civil rights attorney, and she made it happen. She focused on police and prison reform, challenging policing and bail practices in Tennessee, Texas and Washington, D.C., and working with the ACLU of Northern California to challenge police misconduct.
In 2023, she advocated for the EPA to act on contaminated groundwater in minority neighborhoods in Wichita.
In her personal life, Duggins loved her family and God, Montgomery said. And that’s what gave her family and friends some comfort during a prayer service at Tabernacle Bible on Thursday.
“She was a child of God, and so I just believe that although she is absent from the body, she is now present with the Lord,” Montgomery said.
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