diff --git a/CHANGES.txt b/CHANGES.txt
index 8da8258489..49afb06556 100644
--- a/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/CHANGES.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 1.2.17
+ * cqlsh: 'ascii' values weren't formatted as text (CASSANDRA-7407)
  * cqlsh: ignore .cassandra permission errors (CASSANDRA-7266)
  * Errors in FlushRunnable may leave threads hung (CASSANDRA-7275)
  * reduce failure detector initial value to 2s (CASSANDRA-7307)
diff --git a/pylib/cqlshlib/formatting.py b/pylib/cqlshlib/formatting.py
index 44392ceef2..122db1553c 100644
--- a/pylib/cqlshlib/formatting.py
+++ b/pylib/cqlshlib/formatting.py
@@ -191,6 +191,7 @@ def format_value_text(val, encoding, colormap, quote=False, **_):
 
 # name alias
 formatter_for('varchar')(format_value_text)
+formatter_for('ascii')(format_value_text)
 
 def format_simple_collection(subtype, val, lbracket, rbracket, encoding,
                              colormap, time_format, float_precision, nullval):