What is the theme in Swing Low Sweet Chariot ?

Freedom is another theme. It is a matter of record that Negro slaves, who could not sing openly about the desire to escape to freedom, would disguise this theme in their songs. In this poem, the phrase "carry me home," which seems to clearly indicate a trip to the afterlife, can be read as having a double meaning. In the central stanza the band of angels is seen coming across- the River Jordan: like the Mississippi River in the United States, the Jordan ran up the middle of the Biblical world.