Shaw is a city in Bolivar and Sunflower counties, Mississippi, United States, located in the Mississippi Delta region. The make known was derived from an antiquated Indian tribe northeast of this region. The population was 1,952 at the 2010 census.

On June 30, 1914, Jack Farmer, an African-American resident of Shaw, was creature sought by a white posse for allegedly murdering Earl Chase, a white man, also a resident of Shaw. Two deaths took place during the intense search: Jennie Collins, an African-American girl thought to have assisted Farmer in his flight, and James Jolly, a devotee of the posse who was mistaken for Farmer in the darkness. Both were shot and killed as the posse swept through a local swamp where Farmer was believed to be hiding. Farmer was never located.

Shaw gained national attention in 1971 behind a outfit of local residents led by Andrew Hawkins sued the town for violating their Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection under the law. In Hawkins v. Town of Shaw, the residents claimed the town had discriminated neighboring black neighborhoods in the way it distributed public services, noting that while 99 percent of homes occupied by whites had permission to sewers, only 80 percent of black-occupied homes had sewer access. Water pressure was also lower in black neighborhoods. The Fifth Circuit Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, and ordered Shaw to equalize entry to public services such as ember hydrants, water mains, lighting, sewers and street paving. The ruling was considered a watershed civil rights victory, with some commentators comparing it to Brown v. Board of Education. However, the exploit did not encourage a wave of same lawsuits in supplementary jurisdictions.

Shaw is just about entirely in Bolivar County, with a small portion extending east into adjacent Sunflower County. In the 2000 census, all of the city’s 2,313 residents lived in Bolivar County. Although no residents lived in the Sunflower County allowance in 2000, that figure had risen to 1 by 2006.