Kiah Duggins ’21, a civil rights attorney, Kansas native, and beloved Harvard Law School graduate, was among those who died in Wednesday night’s air crash near Reagan National Airport.  

“As a student and lawyer, Kiah was known for her boundless enthusiasm for advancing justice for the most vulnerable, and for building community,” wrote Interim Harvard Law School Dean John Goldberg.  

While at Harvard, Duggins served as president of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, where she worked throughout the pandemic to protect families from unlawful evictions. She was also a member of Harvard Defenders and the Harvard Black Law Students Association, and a 2021 Cravath International Fellow. At graduation, she was recognized with a Clinical and Pro Bono Outstanding Student Award for her tireless efforts as a student and advocate for the many organizations and causes she championed.

Goldberg noted that for those who knew her as a law student, Duggins’ distinguishing characteristics included optimism and empathy, in addition to her many academic and other accomplishments. “What was perhaps most remarkable about Kiah was not what she did, but how she did it. Even up against the most entrenched challenges, Kiah radiated optimism, kindness, and empathy that inspired so many to work alongside her. As one of her classmates has written, ‘She was the best of us.’”

On her graduation in 2021, Duggins said of her time at Harvard, “My law school experience was totally defined by clinical and pro bono work. … All of these experiences taught me everything I know about interacting with clients, written and oral advocacy, providing legal assistance to larger social movements, the technical elements of the law, and larger philosophical questions about what the law should be.”

Since earning her degree, Duggins worked with the ACLU of Northern California and the firm Neufeld, Scheck & Brustin. Most recently, she was an attorney at the Civil Rights Corps, a nonprofit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice.

In addition, over the past year, she led several workshops for the Harvard Law School clinical community on the principles and practice of movement lawyering. She was planning to continue her work as an educator by teaching this coming fall at Howard University.

Harvard Legal Aid Bureau Acting Faculty Director Eloise Lawrence describes Duggins as among the most extraordinary persons she has ever met. “Kiah,” she wrote, “was all light.”

“Kiah was HLAB’s president through the worst days of the pandemic,” Lawrence explained. “Kiah led us all with her grace, her brilliance and her wonderful laugh. She always treated others with deep kindness and respect, but she was not afraid to make tough decisions or to tackle difficult problems. Kiah was beloved by her classmates, her teachers, and her clients alike. I had the great fortune of serving as Kiah’s direct supervisor in her clinical work. I observed her unfailing work ethic, her talent as a writer, thinker, and oral advocate. In short, she was an absolutely superb student attorney.”

“My heart is broken for her parents, for all her many, many friends, but also for the world,” Lawrence continued. “She had already made a significant impact in her job at Civil Rights Corps, and she was going to take her legal experience and her natural gift as a teacher to Howard University in the fall. I am devastated for all those students who will not get to learn from this remarkable young woman.”

The Harvard Black Law Students Association posted on Instagram: “Duggins is gone too soon. She was a fearless civil rights advocate with a passion for service and a commitment to advancing the equal dignity and treatment of Black people. Her efforts have already shaped this nation for the better. We sit today in grief and longing, imagining what more Duggins would have done for others and what she would have accomplished had her life not been cut short.”

Duggins began her education in the Wichita public schools. She earned her bachelors’ degrees from Wichita State University and completed a Fulbright grant in Taiwan. Her pre-law school experience also included teaching second grade.

Duggins was expected to return to campus this weekend to participate in a Systemic Justice Project conference focused on many of the issues that were central to her life and work.

“In the days and weeks ahead, Kiah’s many HLS clients, classmates, and friends will mourn her passing and celebrate her life,” Goldberg concluded. “We are deeply saddened by her loss, and the loss of so many lives on Wednesday. Our thoughts are with Kiah, her family and friends, and with everyone connected to this tragedy.”

The family asks for their privacy to be respected as they navigate the early stages of this tragedy and request no posts, tributes, or statements made at this time.