[norseman]

It was a term used by lore collectors to differentiate between the "witch" and the Cunning Folk who were sometimes used as Witch Finders. White Witch was not a term used by practitioners.
Witchcraft seen as the Black Arts - by the church. In fact, Witch and Witchcraft are descriptions used by the church to denigrate and victimise people - those words were never used by practitioners.
It is sometimes difficult to cut thro the propaganda put out by the church at times.
The Arts or Craft are neither Black or White - they just are ! Blackness and Whiteness lies in intent.
To give another example of the confusion. In Britain, there were "witches" [?] and the Cunning/Wise Folk. At first the church attempted to eradicate the Cunning/Wise Folk and bring charges of the usual garbage. No-one was ever brought to trial because "the Cunning Folk were deemed too useful, especially in rural communities". A further complication was that some rural priests were, in fact, Cunning Folk.
This is where Gardner comes in after the repeal of the Witchcraft Laws. He [ and others ] set about creating a new path which avoided the dreaded words Witch and witch craft to appeal to a wider circle. A faith was based, in the main, on existing Pagan Nature worship. He then added ritual and ceremony from various mystical orders of the 19th century including initiation and a hierarchy. In this, he was aided by Ross Nichol who founded the largest of the British Druid Orders. Both Gardner and Nichol were ordained christian priests from an obscure Celtic church. So New-Witchcraft or Wicca was an off-shoot of the original "witchcraft" that still flourishes in the UK. Never forget Gardner's past ! [look it up yourself].
The new faith, path was appealing to the US as Traditional British Wicca [ traditional in the sense of post-1950's !]
and new varieties began to spring up in the States. This was the beginning of the so-called Witch Wars about who was "real" and who was not. Initiated or Self-declared, Coven or Solitary ?
This still rumbles on today in Wicca.
So, to sum up, Wicca should be seen as a new branch of an old tree which is still going strong.