diff --git a/freetextresponse/templates/freetextresponse_view.html b/freetextresponse/templates/freetextresponse_view.html
index 07b75802..2ddf367d 100644
--- a/freetextresponse/templates/freetextresponse_view.html
+++ b/freetextresponse/templates/freetextresponse_view.html
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 <div class="freetextresponse xmodule_display xmodule_CapaModule problem">
     <h2 class="problem-header">{{ display_name }}</h2>
     <div class="problem-progress">{{ problem_progress }}</div>
-    <p>{{ prompt }}</p>
+    <p>{{ prompt|safe }}</p>
     <div class="word-count-message">{{ word_count_message }}</div>
     <div class="capa_inputtype textline">
         <div class="user_input {{ indicator_class }}">
diff --git a/freetextresponse/tests.py b/freetextresponse/tests.py
index c2efbbe7..7c506344 100644
--- a/freetextresponse/tests.py
+++ b/freetextresponse/tests.py
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 from xblock.field_data import DictFieldData
 from xblock.validation import ValidationMessage
 
+from django.template.loader import get_template
+
 from .freetextresponse import Credit
 from .freetextresponse import FreeTextResponse
 
@@ -167,6 +169,28 @@ def test_student_view(self):
             student_view_html
         )
 
+    def test_build_fragment_prompt_html(self):
+        """
+        Checks that build_fragment allows html in the prompt variable
+
+        if the 'safe' filter is not used then the django
+        template pipeline returns html tags like,
+            '&lt;p&gt;Please enter your response here&lt;/p&gt;'
+        """
+        studio_settings_prompt = "<p>Please enter your response here</p>"
+        context = {
+            'prompt': studio_settings_prompt,
+        }
+        template = get_template('freetextresponse_view.html')
+        fragment = self.xblock.build_fragment(
+            template,
+            context,
+            initialize_js_func='FreeTextResponseView',
+            additional_css=[],
+            additional_js=[],
+        )
+        self.assertIn(studio_settings_prompt, fragment.content)
+
     def test_max_score(self):
         """
         Tests max_score function