Kiah Duggins, a 30-year-old civil rights attorney and Harvard Law School graduate, never made it home after a visit to her Midwestern hometown to support her mother through surgery. She was one of 67 people killed in a devastating mid-air collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines plane, which plunged both aircraft into the Potomac River en route to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The crash, which left no survivors, became the deadliest airline accident in the United States since 2001.

Duggins, who would have celebrated her 31st birthday on Tuesday, September 16, had traveled to Wichita, Kansas, to be with her mother, Gwen Duggins, who had undergone a double mastectomy two days prior. “She came to Wichita, really, to support me,” Gwen recalls. “I had been diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time.”

Though they lived more than a thousand miles apart, mother and daughter spoke nearly every day. Gwen remembers their final conversation vividly: “I told her, ‘You’re busy, it’s okay,’ and she said, ‘Mom, I’m absolutely going to be there.’” Hours after her mother’s release from the hospital, Kiah boarded her flight back to the nation’s capital—but she never arrived.

Even as a child, Kiah embodied a spirit of service. Gwen recalls a family habit of quoting Luke 12:48: “Everyone to whom much is given, of him much will be required.” “Even in elementary school, she would stand up for kids that other kids bullied,” Gwen says. The sentiment carried through her teenage years and into her career. Inspired by Michelle Obama’s 2008 Democratic National Convention speech, Kiah set her sights on public service, later interning with the White House’s Let Girls Learn initiative while still in college.

Her dedication to justice and advocacy defined her career as a civil rights attorney in Washington, D.C., where she fought tirelessly for those in need. Her commitment to others, Gwen says, was apparent from an early age: “She always wanted to show up, to help, to be there for people.”

After the tragedy, the Duggins family received a personal note of condolence from Barack and Michelle Obama. “Barack and I were heartbroken to learn about Kiah’s passing,” the Obamas wrote, acknowledging her life, dedication, and promise.

Kiah Duggins’ death leaves a profound void for her family, friends, and the countless people whose lives she touched through her advocacy. Her life, though tragically cut short, exemplified service, compassion, and the quiet heroism of showing up for others—values she carried from childhood into adulthood, and right up until her final moments.

A letter from the Obamas to the Duggins family.
courtesy of Gwen Duggins

“It didn’t take long to see how special she was,” the Obamas wrote of Kiah’s internship. “Kiah went above and beyond on every task. At every Let Girls Learn meeting, she was the first to arrive and the last to leave. When high school students visited, she was quick to offer words of wisdom or encouragement.”

The family’s pastor had recently asked the congregation to choose one word to guide them for the year, and Gwen Duggins selected “light.” In their letter, the Obamas echoed that sentiment. “Scripture tells us, ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.’ In the days ahead, we know Kiah’s light will continue to shine—giving us strength and showing the way,” they wrote.

Kiah Duggins with former First Lady Michelle Obama.
courtesy of Gwen Duggins

The Duggins family, once kept close across the miles through a family group chat, now feels the unfillable absence of Kiah, a loss that has profoundly shifted their dynamic.

“When we are together, it is loud, it is effervescent, it is rambunctious,” Gwen Duggins says of their tight-knit family. “It’s just hard.” Clinging to her faith, she admits the human impulse to question life’s cruel turns: “Why me or why her? Why did she have to die? And those are answers that I don’t think I will get on this side of heaven.”

Kiah’s family now hopes to honor her legacy through Kiah’s Princess Project, an organization she founded during college to support underrepresented young women.

“When I was a little girl, I really, really wanted to be a princess,” Kiah explained during a 2017 TEDx Talk. A former Miss Kansas contestant, she shared how a childhood playdate moment—when a friend told her Black princesses didn’t exist—ignited her determination to help young women see the possibilities for themselves. Her own inspiration was partly fueled by Brandy Norwood’s 1997 portrayal of Cinderella, though Kiah often noticed she was one of the few Black students in accelerated programs at her high school.

Through her initiative, Kiah provided high school students with college folders containing scholarship spreadsheets, recommendation letter request forms, standardized testing study tips, and other resources. “They’re basically social capital in a folder,” she explained. The program paired students with diverse mentors, creating a tangible representation of their college dreams and showing them that higher education was attainable, not just aspirational.

Kiah Duggins with a display for The Princess Project.
courtesy of Gwen Duggins

Gwen Duggins says Kiah participated in Miss Kansas pageants not for personal accolades, but to raise awareness for her nonprofit, Kiah’s Princess Project.

After earning her undergraduate degree at Wichita State University and teaching English in Taiwan as a Fulbright Scholar, Kiah attended Harvard Law School. There, Gwen recalls, Kiah advocated for renaming an on-campus lounge “Belinda Hall,” in honor of Belinda Sutton, an enslaved woman owned by the Royall family, who helped establish the law school.

“Going to Harvard sharpened her vision of who she was, and sharpened her vision of how she felt like the world should be,” Gwen says.

Following law school, Kiah moved to Washington, D.C., to work with Civil Rights Corps, litigating cases across Tennessee, Texas, and the nation’s capital. She remained deeply engaged in supporting her family as well; before her death, she helped her father, Maurice, a physician, navigate multiple rounds of interviews for a new position as chief medical officer. He learned he had gotten the job only after the crash. Overwhelmed by grief, he initially hesitated—but ultimately accepted, inspired by Kiah’s encouragement and example.

Kiah also had a new professional chapter on the horizon. This fall, she was set to begin a role as assistant law professor at Howard University, a historically Black private institution in D.C.

“She was a big-picture person,” Gwen says. “I think she had a vision for the future of how civil rights, protecting, and speaking for other people’s rights could truly change this country. And the more people you get, then it multiplies that opportunity.”As Kiah herself said in her 2017 TEDx Talk, “We can help solve the world’s big problems by sharing our own little gifts.”