Sequana Joi Harris (December 11, 1976 – August 14, 2017) was an American

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

road racer and

stuntwoman A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed ...

. She made history as the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

woman to be licensed as a motorcycle road racer, racing professionally since 2014, after taking up motorcycling in 2009. She died while performing a motorcycle

stunt A stunt is an unusual, difficult, dramatic physical feat that may require a special skill, performed for artistic purposes usually for a public audience, as on television or in theaters or cinema. Stunts are a feature of many action films. Befo ...

, doubling for the character "Domino" on the set of ''

Deadpool 2 ''Deadpool 2'' is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. It is the sequel to ''Deadpool (film), Deadpool'' (2016) and the eleventh installment in the X-Men (film series), ''X-Men'' film series. The film wa ...

'', Harris's bike crashed near the Rogers Tower during filming.

Racing career

Harris promoted road racing to both women and the African American community. She learned to ride a motorcycle in 2009 and began racing in 2012. By 2013 she earned her racing license and made history in 2014 as the first African American woman to race professionally in motorcycle road racing. That same year, she established her own racing team, Threader Racing, competing under the number #24. In 2017, she raced in the NJMP and SPR classes on the CCS circuit of ASRA where she achieved a victory during the 2017 circuit.

Death

Harris was on her first stunt shoot for ''

'', in 2017. On August 14, 2017, during filming, Harris was riding without a helmet in

downtown Vancouver Downtown Vancouver is the central business district and the city centre list of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, neighbourhood of Vancouver, Canada, on the northwestern shore of the Burrard Peninsula in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. ...

when she lost control of her bike, hit a curb, and was thrown into the Rogers Tower. She had been doubling for actress

Zazie Beetz Zazie Olivia Beetz ( ; ; born June 1, 1991) is a German-American actress. She is known for her role in the FX (TV channel), FX comedy-drama series ''Atlanta (TV series), Atlanta'' (2016–2022), for which she received a nomination for the Primet ...

, who portrayed

Domino Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called '' pips'' or ''dots'' ...

in ''Deadpool 2.'' Harris died at the scene. Her death marked the second fatality in two months among stunt performers in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, following the July death of stuntman

John Bernecker John Hagen Bernecker (March 2, 1984 – July 13, 2017) was an American stunt performer. Early life Bernecker was born on March 2, 1984, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He attended the University of New Orleans and Southeastern Louisiana University. ...

on the set of '' The Walking Dead'' TV series. ''Deadpool 2'' was dedicated to Harris.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Joi 1976 births 2017 deaths Female motorcycle racers American motorcycle racers 21st-century African-American sportswomen 21st-century American sportswomen African-American actresses American actresses American stunt performers Motorcycle road incident deaths Road incident deaths in Canada 20th-century African-American sportswomen 20th-century American sportswomen Sportspeople from Brooklyn

Racing career

Death

References

Further reading

External links