Joe Biden spoke at New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson on Sunday, telling congregants America today is at an “inflection point” similar to the Civil Rights era more than 50 years ago.

With just two days before Mississippi's Democratic presidential primary, Biden had campaign events at a predominantly African American church in the morning and a historically black university in the afternoon.

After a slow start, Biden stormed back into contention for the Democratic nomination in recent days, largely by dominating in Southern states with large black electorates, such as South Carolina and Alabama, against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, who introduced Biden at both events, dubbed him the "comeback kid."

“What a difference a week makes,” Biden told the crowd at Tougaloo College to applause. “A week ago, the press and the pundits declared our campaign dead, but then came South Carolina … Come Tuesday, Mississippi’s gonna get their say.”

New Hope Baptist

The former vice president spoke at the end of a two-hour service. He recalled watching police blast civil rights activists in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963 and how that footage shocked and galvanized the nation into passing the Civil Rights Act.

Biden said he felt a similar call to action in 2016, when white supremacists rallied in Charlottesville, Virginia — “veins bulging, spewing hate” — and President Donald Trump did not unilaterally condemn the white supremacists after an anti-racism protester was killed.

“This isn’t just an election, this is a battle for the soul of America," Biden said to applause.

“They said Joe Biden is dead,” New Hope Pastor Jerry Young told his congregation before Biden began speaking. "Don’t you know this — that we are the Easter people?”

While many politicians "make a pit stop at church," Young noted, Biden and his campaign officials underscored that he planned to "come and worship" at New Hope, not just make a speech. Biden, who is Catholic, spoke for about 15 minutes near the end of the service and closed by thanking the congregation and others like it in the South.

“You’re the reason I’m back,” Biden said. “Nobody else. You’re the reason.”

Glover campaigns for Sanders

Meanwhile, actor Danny Glover arrived in Jackson this weekend to campaign for Sanders. Sanders initially was scheduled to hold a campaign rally himself in Jackson Friday, but instead campaigned in Michigan. Michigan's primary is also Tuesday.

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Glover is the star of the "Lethal Weapon" movie franchise and also a film director. He visited several Jackson churches Sunday morning on Sanders’ behalf, and gave a motivational speech to volunteers at a Callaway High School event in the afternoon. Other Sanders surrogates making the rounds Sunday included Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and activist Phillip Agnew.

"This is about a transformation," Glover told about 30 volunteers, discussing Sanders' Medicare-for-all proposal, his Thurgood Marshall education plan, and his pitch to eliminate college debt. "We in a fight, and we knew it was going to be a fight."

Tougaloo College

Later that afternoon, a New Orleans-style jazz band hyped up hundreds of people in Kroger Gymnasium at Tougaloo College as they waited for Biden to take the stage. Actress Vivica Fox and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick spoke first, praising the former vice president.

Biden spoke for about 13 minutes, reading from a teleprompter.

“I love HBCUs. They're the heart and pride of our communities," Biden said, using the shorthand for historically black colleges and universities. He said he wanted to invest $70 billion more federal money into them, which drew cheers.

While his first speech of the day focused on racism and rejecting intolerance, he spent much of his time at Tougaloo pitching himself as the candidate of unity. He rarely referred to Sanders, calling him a “good guy,” but argued that he was the only candidate who could build a big enough coalition to defeat Trump.

“Winning means uniting America … It means not only fighting, but healing the country,” Biden said. “… We must defeat Donald Trump and the Republican Party, but we must not become like them.”

The crowd interrupted him multiple times to chant, “We want Joe.”

A two-person contest

What began as a crowded and diverse Democratic primary for president has narrowed to a two-way contest between Biden and Sanders.

Biden has won every southern state that has held a nominating contest so far. While the mayor of Mississippi's capital city endorsed Sanders, Biden has racked up endorsements from many of Mississippi's Democratic politicians. Several Democratic state lawmakers attended the Sunday service at New Hope.

Former Gov. Ray Mabus, who served as Secretary of the Navy under President Barack Obama, announced Sunday he was endorsing Biden.

Little polling has been in Mississippi ahead of its primary election, but two polls conducted last summer showed strong support for Biden.

Sanders was the national Democratic front-runner in recent weeks following nominating contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, but Biden surged after winning nearly half the votes cast in the South Carolina primary.

Glover, the Sanders surrogate, touted his work alongside Sanders to unionize Nissan workers in Mississippi in recent years. And in motivating volunteers who were preparing to knock on doors in North Jackson, he drew comparisons between Sanders' transformational policy proposals and the Civil Rights movement.

“Mississippi has always been the ground zero," Glover, 73, said. "Young students came down here, and started organizing people to vote, it was where they began to talk about voter’s rights.”

Moderate candidates such as South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar dropped out and endorsed Biden, leading to a strong showing by Biden on Super Tuesday.

After disappointing showings, billionaire Mike Bloomberg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren dropped out, paving the way for a two-man race between Biden and Sanders.

USA Today:2020 Democratic primary results

How Mississippi could affect the race

Mississippi could be an important state in Biden's campaign if Sanders fails to capture 15% of the vote Tuesday.

For candidates to receive any delegates — the key to winning the Democratic nomination — they need to receive at least 15% of the vote.

As a smaller state, Mississippi has relatively few delegates, but Biden has a chance to nab all 36 of them if Sanders performs worse than he did in 2016.

That year, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton won more than 82% of the vote. Sanders got about 17%.

Sanders was scheduled to appear at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson Friday, but cancelled the appearance to campaign in Michigan, where 125 delegates are up for grabs.

Biden currently leads Sanders in the national delegate count, but voters in 32 states have yet to cast ballots, and more than half the total delegates are still on the table.

Both Biden, 77, and Sanders, 78, would be the oldest president to assume office if elected.

Sunday is Biden's first stop in Mississippi since launching his campaign last year.

Biden drew criticism at the outset of his candidacy in June when he recalled a time of "civility" in the U.S. Senate when he could get along with just about anyone — including the former Mississippi Sen. James O. Eastland, a segregationist.

Contact Giacomo "Jack" Bologna at 601-961-7282 or gbologna@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @gbolognaCL.