My girlfriend and I were watching a film where the term "black magic" was used and we began to wonder what the roots of that term are. Is it meant to be synonymous with "dark" or does it stem from race-related connotations? For example: Voodoo being called "black" magic because of its use by Africans and Haitians and subsequently being delegitimized by Christians.
Specifically, I wonder if 17th-19th c. white Christians referred to the traditional religious practices of slaves and black laborers as "black magic" and the term just stuck or if "black" genuinely is just meant to be synonymous with dark in this context.
I will have to get up in the morning (okay, later today) to provide sources when/if asked but the term "black magic" probably has little to do with racial connotations and much more to do with "nigromancy", a term used for a set of magical practices generally associated with the summoning of demons, conjuration of treasure spirits, alchemy, etc. During either the middle or late middle ages (It's a bit fuzzy right now) there were some notable figures who were very interested in the "artes". The church then, as now, frowned on these practices and considered them dangerous and depraved.
[Nigro-] just means "black" and [-mancy] pretty much just means "magic"(If I end up on badlinguistics I will totally know why).
Magical, or superstitious, practices were considered heretical no matter who practised them. They were an affront not only to the natural order but the divine will of God.
I wish I knew more; like whether the dichotomy between the rituals of the Catholic church and those practised by the magicians of the day could be fit into the same paradigm as theurgy vs. thaumaturgy. But that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish I should probably take to an Ecclesiology subreddit.