diff --git a/cqlengine/columns.py b/cqlengine/columns.py
index 67112eb0..941d2419 100644
--- a/cqlengine/columns.py
+++ b/cqlengine/columns.py
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ class Column(object):
                  index=False,
                  db_field=None,
                  default=None,
-                 required=True,
+                 required=False,
                  clustering_order=None):
         """
         :param primary_key: bool flag, indicates this column is a primary key. The first primary key defined
diff --git a/cqlengine/tests/columns/test_validation.py b/cqlengine/tests/columns/test_validation.py
index acbf9099..627ccbd3 100644
--- a/cqlengine/tests/columns/test_validation.py
+++ b/cqlengine/tests/columns/test_validation.py
@@ -185,7 +185,7 @@ class TestText(BaseCassEngTestCase):
         Text().validate(bytearray('bytearray'))
 
         with self.assertRaises(ValidationError):
-            Text().validate(None)
+            Text(required=True).validate(None)
 
         with self.assertRaises(ValidationError):
             Text().validate(5)