diff --git a/Include/unicodeobject.h b/Include/unicodeobject.h
index c088a0f0c13..faa53d644fd 100644
--- a/Include/unicodeobject.h
+++ b/Include/unicodeobject.h
@@ -343,6 +343,9 @@ typedef struct {
            the data pointer is filled out. The bit is redundant, and helps
            to minimize the test in PyUnicode_IS_READY(). */
         unsigned int ready:1;
+        /* Padding to ensure that PyUnicode_DATA() is always aligned to
+           4 bytes (see issue #19537 on m68k). */
+        unsigned int :24;
     } state;
     wchar_t *wstr;              /* wchar_t representation (null-terminated) */
 } PyASCIIObject;
diff --git a/Misc/ACKS b/Misc/ACKS
index b7404ca563a..0eb826715a5 100644
--- a/Misc/ACKS
+++ b/Misc/ACKS
@@ -1171,6 +1171,7 @@ Robin Schreiber
 Chad J. Schroeder
 Christian Schubert
 Sam Schulenburg
+Andreas Schwab
 Stefan Schwarzer
 Dietmar Schwertberger
 Federico Schwindt
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 0736f410f25..7a2e4fed24c 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ Release date: TBA
 Core and Builtins
 -----------------
 
+- Issue #19537: Fix PyUnicode_DATA() alignment under m68k.  Patch by
+  Andreas Schwab.
+
 - Issue #20929: Add a type cast to avoid shifting a negative number.
 
 - Issue #20731: Properly position in source code files even if they