The term was coined by novelist and Washington Post movie critic Stephen Hunter in the 1990s. Hunter used the term to describe the kindly yet mysterious black characters who appear in otherwise all-white movies and are somehow all-knowing in the ways of the universe and may or may not have unspecified magical powers.
The “magic negro” is entirely a reflection and visible manifestations of white writers’ anxiety about race.
The list of classic “magic negroes” includes Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile, Cuba Gooding in What Dreams May Come, Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance, and Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan on Star Trek.
I love Michael Clarke Duncan and thought “The Green Mile” was somewhat of a Christian allegory.