The introduction at last night’s Presidential Lecture was inspirational, to say the least.

“Libraries are indeed mobbed, and there is commotion across the media, but Simon Schama has come to the rescue,” said History Department Chair Aron Rodrigue as he introduced the night’s speaker to a standing-room-only Cubberley Auditorium.

Schama, a professor of Art History and History at Columbia University, spoke on the history of the slave trade in a lecture entitled, “The Abolition of the Slave Trade Two Hundred Years On — American and Britain: Two Diverging Destinies?”

“Schama has been at the forefront of the battle to bring narrative back into history and to make the art of story-telling accessible to everyone,” Rodrigue said in his introduction. “The task at hand is to move history back into the common public culture where it rightly belongs.”

Schama’s lecture was based on the topic of his most recent book, “Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves, and the American Revolution,” which explores the lives of African-American slaves who fought as Loyalists with the British during the American Revolution.

The lecture delved further into what Schama called a “poisonous paradox of early American history.”

Schama explained that Thomas Jefferson’s 1807 bill abolishing the slave trade actually propagated the inhuman practice. Furthermore, Schama denied the view that slavery was primarily necessary for economic prosperity and instead stressed that actual abolition legislation was delayed for decades so as not to “toy dangerously with a fragile Union.”

In addition, Schama spoke on the “great debate” that arose over abolition in Britain in 1806, explaining that following the war against the French, “British defeat led to soul searching.”

“Children were made aware of famous pictures of the slave ship ‘Brooks’ with their sardine-can-packed African bodies,” Schama said, referring to education in Britain at the time.

Schama also criticized the sentiment among the British earlier this year during the 200 year anniversary of the Abolition of Slavery Act, saying “there was an element of back tapping” prevalent among commemorators. He also dismissed the idea of a formal British apology for slavery with an anecdotal comparison to his own Jewish background.

“If a perfectly nice German came up to me and said, ‘Sorry about Auschwitz,’ I would say, ‘That doesn’t cut it,’” Schama said to a laughing audience.

Following the one-hour lecture, students and faculty alike were impressed and inspired.

“I thought the lecture was really interesting because it dealt with slavery not only in the American context, but also in the international context,” said Emily Rials ‘11. “I came in not knowing a whole lot about the topic, but now I’m interested in learning more.”

“I have read a lot of books on the subject of slavery,” added Shine Aung ‘11, “but topics covered in this lecture are not covered at all in the history books.”

“Schama’s precision in digging through the archives of history [is] so compelling,” said classics lecturer Patrick Hunt, “that one has to take it and really masticate it over and over again. His command of the language and the history is magisterial.”

Faculty members hoped that attendees of the lecture took away something to ponder or debate.

“Because Schama’s theses were bold and presented with remarkable nuance, there will be plenty of room for debate,” said Stephen Hinton, associate dean for the humanities.

“I want people to understand that the issues are tremendously complex intellectually, economically, morally and philosophically,” Hunt added. “I certainly hope Professor Schama will return. He’s the real deal.”

In addition to his role at Columbia, Schama is the author of internationally recognized books and an award-winning broadcaster. He has written and presented more than 30 films for the BBC and PBS, and he has contributed articles on culture and politics to The Guardian and The New Yorker.

A discussion with Schama on last night’s lecture will be held today at 10 a.m. in the Humanities Center; admission is free and open to the public.