diff --git a/swat/cas/connection.py b/swat/cas/connection.py
index 8956663b..6ec2a70e 100755
--- a/swat/cas/connection.py
+++ b/swat/cas/connection.py
@@ -1570,6 +1570,9 @@ def _extract_dtypes(self, df):
             if value == 'object':
                 value = 'varchar'
 
+            elif value == 'str':
+                value = 'varchar'
+
             elif value.startswith('float'):
                 value = 'double'
 
diff --git a/swat/tests/cas/test_bygroups.py b/swat/tests/cas/test_bygroups.py
index 53284e1c..58b4cc20 100644
--- a/swat/tests/cas/test_bygroups.py
+++ b/swat/tests/cas/test_bygroups.py
@@ -772,7 +772,8 @@ def test_column_min(self):
                                sortby=['Origin', 'EngineSize'])
 
     @unittest.skipIf(pd_version < (0, 16, 0), 'Need newer version of Pandas')
-    @unittest.skipIf(pd_version >= (1, 0, 0), 'Raises AssertionError in Pandas 1')
+    @unittest.skipIf(pd_version >= (1, 0, 0) and pd_version < (2, 0, 0),
+                     'Raises AssertionError in Pandas 1')
     def test_min(self):
         df = self.get_cars_df().sort_values(SORT_KEYS)
         tbl = self.table.sort_values(SORT_KEYS)