Early hardship under colonialism forged Osman and Hussen’s courage and principled pragmatism.

Evidence

Many African liberation leaders came from humble backgrounds, but none had such desperately harrowing struggles so early in their lives as Africa’s first democrats did. A reciprocal cultural community offered a limited safety net. However, their extended families did not have the means to shelter the two from the cruelties of the late colonial period. The blend of these factors enabled Osman and Hussen to develop two precious characteristics: courage and principled pragmatism. In the first case, they resisted colonial assumptions and confronted postcolonial conventions; in the latter, they adopted flexible yet righteous means in the pursuit of their objectives and encounters with others. — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 1115

Categorization

• XREF: Directs that early hardship generated their distinctive political character.