A. Lynn Bolles died on February 8, 2026, in Mitchellville, Maryland.
(The following was provided by an update from the college on February 24, 2026:)
From: President Zaki <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2026 11:38 AM
Subject: A. Lynn Bolles (1949–2026)
To the Bowdoin community,
I am writing with sadness to share the news of the death of A. Lynn Bolles, former Bowdoin anthropology professor and professor emerita at the University of Maryland. Lynn died from heart failure on February 8 in Mitchellville, Maryland.
A member of the Bowdoin faculty from 1980 to 1989, Lynn was the first Black tenured professor at the College. She served as director of the Afro-American Studies Program at the College for eight years and was one of the founders of what would become the Women’s Studies Program. Bowdoin created a minor in women’s studies in 1988 and established a major in 1992. The program became the Gender and Women’s Studies Program in 2005 and in 2015, gay and lesbian studies merged with gender and women’s studies to form the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program. Lynn’s influence remains woven into the life of the College.
Lynn was the second director of the Afro-American Studies Program at Bowdoin. Working in conjunction with the dean of the faculty and the Committee for Afro-American Studies, Lynn organized a program of speakers and events, advised the Afro-American Society and individual students, offered courses that expanded and enriched the curriculum, maintained an impressive record of scholarly research and publication, and worked to increase the representation of Black students and faculty on campus.
Augusta Lynn Bolles was born on December 12, 1949, in Passaic, New Jersey. She graduated from Syracuse University in 1971, majoring in English literature and anthropology. She undertook graduate study at Rutgers University, earning an MA in anthropology in 1978 and a PhD in social and cultural anthropology in 1981. She joined the Bowdoin faculty in 1980 and brought her interdisciplinary perspective and her energy to the classroom and to her scholarship.
Lynn was a pioneering figure in the study of anthropology in the Caribbean and in Latin America. Her research explored women’s labor, the contributions of Black women anthropologists, the relationships between fieldworkers and the communities they engage with in their research, feminist perspectives on voices heard and unheard in societies and academic discourse, and the importance of acknowledging historical and disciplinary impediments to valuing diverse forms of knowledge.
In 1989, Lynn joined the faculty at the University of Maryland, College Park, where she continued her outstanding scholarship and her mentorship of undergraduates, graduate students, and other faculty. Lynn was promoted to full professor, served as director of graduate studies in the Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, and chaired both the Department of African American Studies and the Committee on Africa and the Americas for the Office of the Dean of Arts and Humanities. She contributed numerous book chapters, reviews, monographs, essays, and wrote four books: Sister Jamaica: A Study of Women, Work and Households in Kingston (1996); Women and Tourist Work in Jamaica: Seven Miles of Sandy Beach (1996); The Gender of Globalization: Women Navigating Cultural and Economic Marginalities (2009); and We Paid Our Dues: Women Trade Union Leaders of the Caribbean (2023).
Lynn remained active in the field of anthropology after her retirement in 2015. She held leadership roles in several professional organizations, serving as president of the Association of Black Anthropologists, the Caribbean Studies Association, the Association for Feminist Anthropology, and the Society for the Anthropology of North America. She was the 2025 recipient of the Feminist Anthropology Career Award, recognizing outstanding lifetime contributions to the field of feminist anthropology. Lynn was a long-time member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., as well as a member of The Cottagers, Inc., a historic charitable organization formed by Black women homeowners on Martha’s Vineyard.
She is survived by James Mackin Walsh, her husband of forty-six years, and her two sons, Shane Bolles Walsh and Robeson James Walsh. We join Lynn’s many friends, colleagues, and former students in extending our condolences to her family and celebrating her remarkable life, spirit, and enduring legacy.
Sincerely,
Safa
President
Professor of Psychology