diff --git a/src/PyPlot.jl b/src/PyPlot.jl
index 0b9876f7..5b039075 100755
--- a/src/PyPlot.jl
+++ b/src/PyPlot.jl
@@ -246,6 +246,22 @@ fill(x::AbstractArray,y::AbstractArray, args...; kws...) =
 
 include("colormaps.jl")
 
+###########################################################################
+# Support array of string labels in bar chart
+
+function bar{T<:String}(x::AbstractVector{T}, y; kws...)
+    xi = 1:length(x)
+    if !any(kw -> kw[1] == :align, kws)
+        push!(kws, (:align, "center"))
+    end
+    p = bar(xi, y; kws...)
+    ax = any(kw -> kw[1] == :orientation && lowercase(kw[2]) == "horizontal",
+             kws) ? gca()["yaxis"] : gca()["xaxis"]
+    ax[:set_ticks](xi)
+    ax[:set_ticklabels](x)
+    return p
+end
+
 ###########################################################################
 # Include mplot3d for 3d plotting.