magic Negro

n. a real or fictional Black person who, especially in deference to White people, is perceived as non-threatening and servile, and appears to have a special ability to help White people. Subjects: English, Entertainment, Politics, Race, Derogatory

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Citations: [1996 Paul Beatty The White Boy Shuffle: A Novel p. 5 @ (May 4, 2001): Unlike the typical bluesy earth folksy denim-overalls noble-in-the-face-of-cracker-racism aw shucks Pulitzer Prize-winning protagonist mojo black man, I am not the seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son. ] 1998 Stephen Hunter Washington Post (Oct. 30) “‘History X’: Hate With a Passion” p. D01: The enabling mechanism of this conversion is our old friend from “50s liberal movies, the Magic Negro, as descended from Sidney Poitier in “The Defiant Ones.” His job is to prevent the white man from drowning in the bile of his own hatred. So in the racially intense caldron of a California prison, this film asks us to believe, a Magic Negro sees the good hidden in Derek and massages it gently to his surface. He even intercedes with the other black convicts to go easy on this white racist who has killed two young black men. File this one in the “as if” file. [1999 Adam Zachary Newton Facing Black and Jew: Literature as Public Space in Twentieth-Century America (Aug. 13) “Literaturized Blacks and Jews; or Golems and Tar babies: reality and its shadows in John Edgar Wideman and Bernard Malamud” p. 116: “Angel Levine” introduces us to another flying Jew, without feathers, this time simply black, a magical black man, Alexander Levine, by name, but by narrational locution, “the Negro.”…Where does such a magical black man come from? From Hollywood? Burlesque? Folklore? ] 1999 Renee Graham Boston Globe (Massachusetts) (Dec. 7) “The Myth Of The ‘Magic Negro’” p. E5: I first heard a variation of this term after seeing the film “Clara’s Heart” with a friend about a decade ago. In this 1988 drama, Whoopi Goldberg played a Jamaican maid who transforms the lives of a well-to-do white Maryland family. The family is completely falling apart until Clara, with her honeyed patois and no-nonsense emotions, comes on the scene to set everything right. It’s a backbreakingly earnest and irritating film, which led my friend to utter a phrase I never forgot: “Damn, I can’t stand them “magic [Negro]” movies,” she hissed, although in the heat of the moment, she didn’t use the word “Negro.”…(A celluloid flip side of the Magic Negro is the White Savior, wherein a white crusader manages to save all the cowering black folks from really, really bad white people, as seen in such films as “Mississippi Burning” or “Ghosts of Mississippi.”) 2001 Cynthia Gentry indieWire (Mar. 13) “FESTIVALS: 11th Cinequest Makes Digital Official; Leacock and Spike Lee Tell It Like It Is”: Addressing issues ranging from Quentin Tarantino’s gratuitous use of racial epithets to the stereotype of the “mystical magical Negro” who appears in such films as “The Green Mile” and “The Legend of Bagger Vance,” Lee kept the house in stitches. Referring to the character of Bagger Vance, Lee commented, “They were hanging ’em high in Georgia then. If Bagger Vance really did have magical powers, wouldn’t he help out his brothers? Do you really think his number-one concern would be helping Matt Damon with his golf swing?” 2007 [Guest Blogger] AlterNet (Apr. 24) “Limbaugh plays “Barack The Magic Negro” on his show”: This is a head-shaker. Imus gets canned for calling some college women basketball players “nappy-headed hos” and yet Rush Limbaugh plays “Barack The Magic Negro” on his show and he is still on the air?

Posted 3 Oct 07 | Permalink | Tell a Friend

Reader comments:

Another film that strikes me as supporting this idea is “The Shawschank Redemption”.

by Ed 22 Nov 07, 1134 GMT

Another example is “Crossroads” (1986), featuring not only a Magic Negro but also a Magic Oriental [and I mean Oriental, not Asian, because the point is to draw attention to the stereotype].

by mooncaine 20 Dec 07, 0331 GMT

Oops, I made a mistake, moderator. I’m laughing at myself. I confused two movies, Crossroads and The Karate Kid! Crossroads has a Magic Negro character as a mentor, and Karate Kid is essentially the same story, but with a Magic Oriental character as mentor. Both mentors have something special to offer the young hero, something that apparently comes from their unique cultural heritage and thus from the fact of their otherness.

by mooncaine 20 Dec 07, 0421 GMT

What about Whoopi Goldberg again, in “Ghost?” In that film she is in fact the magical conduit between the two white protagonists? I’m hearing a discussion on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, but without the context of the literary ‘magical Negro’ concept.

by Gary Yokie 29 Dec 08, 0754 GMT

I would agree w/ Shawshank Redemption, if Andy was black. Although Red is helpful in the beginning, since he’s the narrator, you see his emotions and shortcomings. He also has a sordid past - the murder. He also tries unsuccessfully with the same ‘speech’ again and again to gain freedom with the parole board. Andy appears, makes everything better with his wit, wisdom, and magical abilities.

by Mike 30 Dec 08, 0327 GMT