Dr. Enoch Page is a transgender anthropologist, ethnographer, and activist born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1951. Enoch grew up in the then migrant community of Compton Hill, St. Louis, where his mother and father both participated in community organizing and social advocacy. From a young age, Enoch became well acquainted with the importance of community, participating in churches, gardening, and talks with friends and neighbors. Both of his parents were politically active within their church, and also belonged to the NAACP.
To Enoch’s parents, college was never an option. He grew up relatively poor and was expected to, upon graduating high school, forgo a college education and instead find work wherever possible. However, after applying and being awarded scholarships to attend several colleges, Enoch enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis, where he went on to utilize his knowledge of organizing and advocacy to become President of both the Black student union and the student body. Enoch found the Black Student Union (BSU) to be one of the safer spaces as he navigated discrimination and oppression on campus. He specifically recalls Ms. Gloria White, who was in charge of student services, as a person who played an enormous role in his college experience. It was through Dr White’s nurturing and tutelage that he learned how to navigate college life as a Black student. Enoch would often spend time at her house on weekends.
At Washington University, Enoch completed a triple major in Anthropology, Education, and Black Studies, followed by a Master’s in Curriculum Development. He then obtained a PhD in anthropology at Northwestern University. His studies culminated in his work on the decolonizing of anthropology and the study of whiteness, identifying the ways an entire cultural infrastructure comes together to create the system that is white supremacy. Mentored in his final years at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois by his friend and ally George Rawick, Enoch participated with other Rawick mentees (George Lipsitz, David Roediger, Noel Ignatievv) in the creation of whiteness studies. After college, he taught anthropology as an assistant professor at the University of Missouri, then at the University of Massachusetts, where he was tenured and became an associate professor. Enoch left the university on medical leave in 2009, retired in 2012, and he now provides writing, editing, and coaching services through his business The Wishing Well.
From childhood, Enoch’s identity as a transgender male was always a source of strain but was never the subject of conflict in his family of origin. Enoch recalls his mother saying on her deathbed that Enoch would tell them he was a boy as soon as he could speak. On the day he moved into his college dorm room, Enoch formally came out to his parents and attempted to explain his heterosexual male sexuality, as he didn’t have the word “transgender” at the time. Enoch’s childhood community conformed to the belief that gender was assigned at birth by God.
Whether as a churchgoing child, a college student, or even a professor, Enoch repeatedly felt compelled to dress as a girl or woman. After a period of struggling to understand, Enoch’s family and closest friends accepted his transgender condition and identity. In college, he researched gender affirming healthcare in his school library of law and attempted to access it, but refused to continue with the procedure when he was told he would have to discontinue his studies and find work as a bricklayer or plumber.
As a college freshman, he researched gender affirming healthcare in his school’s law library. Enoch attempted to access transgender surgery when he was 19 and was evaluated to be an ideal candidate for the free gender confirmation surgery being offered. Enoch was eager to proceed but was refused the surgical procedure when he resisted being told he would have to end his matriculation at the university and find work as a bricklayer or plumber to prove his manhood to the doctors, as per their protocol.
Enoch credits much of his perseverance and determination throughout his life to his spirituality. When asked what he would tell his younger self, Enoch stated, “Don’t lose faith in your ability to prevail. You will suffer. But understand that suffering is a form of spiritual growth. Your job is to not allow yourself to sink into despair, but to allow yourself to be resilient, become more and more resilient, and rely more and more on your higher power. If you do that, you will prevail.”
