The History of Slave Labor The underlying reasons for the turn to slave labor in early Virginia are plenteous, ranging from colonial economics to pure racism. As the necessity for cheap and permanent labor rose with the success of tobacco cultivation, Virginia planters resorted to the use of slave labor. Early efforts by the English at colonization in the new land were not successful until the introduction of tobacco to the Virginia colony in 1613. Among the many New World commodities that fueled English interest in the colonies, tobacco caught on fast and became Virginia's economic salvation as well as it's new staple