diff --git a/Lib/test/test_datetime.py b/Lib/test/test_datetime.py
index 005187f13e665f..85214dfefe6962 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_datetime.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_datetime.py
@@ -4,25 +4,38 @@
 
 from test.support.import_helper import import_fresh_module
 
-
 TESTS = 'test.datetimetester'
 
 def load_tests(loader, tests, pattern):
     try:
-        pure_tests = import_fresh_module(TESTS,
-                                         fresh=['datetime', '_pydatetime', '_strptime'],
-                                         blocked=['_datetime'])
-        fast_tests = import_fresh_module(TESTS,
-                                         fresh=['datetime', '_strptime'],
-                                         blocked=['_pydatetime'])
+        pure_tests = import_fresh_module(
+            TESTS,
+            fresh=['datetime', '_pydatetime', '_strptime'],
+            blocked=['_datetime'],
+        )
+
+        try:
+            import _datetime
+        except ImportError:
+            has_datetime = False
+        else:
+            has_datetime = True
+            del _datetime
+
+        fast_tests = import_fresh_module(
+            TESTS,
+            fresh=['datetime', '_strptime'],
+            blocked=['_pydatetime'],
+        )
     finally:
         # XXX: import_fresh_module() is supposed to leave sys.module cache untouched,
         # XXX: but it does not, so we have to cleanup ourselves.
-        for modname in ['datetime', '_datetime', '_strptime']:
+        for modname in ['datetime', '_datetime', '_pydatetime', '_strptime']:
             sys.modules.pop(modname, None)
 
     test_modules = [pure_tests, fast_tests]
     test_suffixes = ["_Pure", "_Fast"]
+
     # XXX(gb) First run all the _Pure tests, then all the _Fast tests.  You might
     # not believe this, but in spite of all the sys.modules trickery running a _Pure
     # test last will leave a mix of pure and native datetime stuff lying around.
@@ -45,6 +58,9 @@ def load_tests(loader, tests, pattern):
             class Wrapper(cls):
                 @classmethod
                 def setUpClass(cls_, module=module):
+                    if module is fast_tests and not has_datetime:
+                        raise unittest.SkipTest("requires _datetime module")
+
                     cls_._save_sys_modules = sys.modules.copy()
                     sys.modules[TESTS] = module
                     sys.modules['datetime'] = module.datetime_module