Editing Shaw, Mississippi (section)

==History==
On June 30, 1914, Jack Farmer, an [[African-American]] resident of Shaw, was being 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 woman thought to have assisted Farmer in his flight, and James Jolly, a member 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.<ref>{{cite web
 | last =Segrave
 | first =Kerry
 | author-link =
 | title =Jennie Collins
 | work =Lynchings of Women in the United States: The Recorded Cases, 1851-1946.
 | publisher =McFarland
 | year =2010
 | url =
 | format =
 | doi =
 }}
</ref>

Shaw gained national attention in 1971 when a group of local residents led by Andrew Hawkins sued the town for violating their [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] right to equal protection under the law. In ''[[Hawkins v. Town of Shaw]]'', the residents claimed the town had discriminated against black neighborhoods in the way it distributed public services, noting that while 99 percent of homes occupied by whites had access 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 access to public services such as fire 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 case did not encourage a wave of similar lawsuits in other jurisdictions.<ref>
{{Citation
 | last =
 | first =
 | author-link =
 | last2 =
 | first2 =
 | title =School Ruling Is Seen Changing Nature of Cities.
 | newspaper =Sarasota Herald-Tribune
 | pages =4E
 | date =April 2, 1972
 | url =https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=p7kqAAAAIBAJ&pg=7065%2C525646
 }}
</ref><ref>{{cite book
 | last =Troesken
 | first =Werner
 | author-link =
 | title =Water, Race and Disease
 | work =
 | publisher =Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 | year =2004
 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=GmgYTwfcIMsC&q=Shaw%2C%20Mississippi&pg=PR4
 | format =
 | doi =
 | isbn =9780262201483
 }}
</ref>