President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama join up with the Bonner family to ring the onstage bell during the opening ceremony of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)

A woman who helped former President Barack Obama ring the bell to officially open the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture has died.

Ruth Odom Bonner, the daughter of a slave, was 100 years old when she passed away last Friday. Her son Michael told The Washington Post that she died peacefully in her sleep at an assisted living facility in Silver Spring.

Bonner assisted the former president and First Lady Michelle Obama in ringing the 500-pound bell, which was lent by the historically black First Baptist Church in Williamsburg, Va., at the museum’s opening ceremony on September 24, 2016.

She graced the stage that was shared by civil rights activists, politicians, and celebrities. A crowd of thousands stood before them on the National Mall to witness the opening of the long-awaited museum honoring and celebrating black life in the U.S.

Bonner, who was born in a small Arkansas town in 1917, spent most of her life in Cleveland working as a bookkeeper and teaching assistant.

President Obama said in his speech that she and her family reflect “the arc of our progress. The Bonner family—four generations in all, starting with gorgeous seven-year-old Christine and going up to gorgeous 99-year-old Ruth.”

He told the crowd that Bonner’s father, Elijah Odom, was born a slave in Mississippi but escaped to freedom and became a physician. Odom “gave life to the beautiful family that we see today—with a spirit reflected in beautiful Christine, free and equal in the laws of her country and in the eyes of God,” Obama said.

Before ringing the bell, Bonner got a kiss on the cheek from the president. Then, she, Christine, and the Obamas pulled the rope together.

The Smithsonian has tracked 733,000 visits to the museum in 2016 and 1.5 million thus far this year.

Rukiya Bonner told The Post that her grandmother was proud to be part of history and thankful that the museum existed. “She felt honored to meet Obama, because she would never think that in her lifetime she would see such a wonderful president who happened to be black.”