diff --git a/cryptography/bindings/openssl/api.py b/cryptography/bindings/openssl/api.py
index 8445836..cf3389d 100644
--- a/cryptography/bindings/openssl/api.py
+++ b/cryptography/bindings/openssl/api.py
@@ -141,12 +141,12 @@
 
     def supports_hash(self, hash_cls):
         return (self.ffi.NULL !=
-                self.lib.EVP_get_digestbyname(hash_cls.name))
+                self.lib.EVP_get_digestbyname(hash_cls.name.encode("ascii")))
 
     def create_hash_context(self, hashobject):
         ctx = self.lib.EVP_MD_CTX_create()
         ctx = self.ffi.gc(ctx, self.lib.EVP_MD_CTX_destroy)
-        evp_md = self.lib.EVP_get_digestbyname(hashobject.name)
+        evp_md = self.lib.EVP_get_digestbyname(hashobject.name.encode("ascii"))
         assert evp_md != self.ffi.NULL
         res = self.lib.EVP_DigestInit_ex(ctx, evp_md, self.ffi.NULL)
         assert res != 0
diff --git a/cryptography/primitives/hashes.py b/cryptography/primitives/hashes.py
index f5cf135..d74287f 100644
--- a/cryptography/primitives/hashes.py
+++ b/cryptography/primitives/hashes.py
@@ -43,6 +43,6 @@
 
 
 class SHA1(BaseHash):
-    name = b"sha1"
+    name = "sha1"
     digest_size = 20
     block_size = 64