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Civic leaders, parents, teachers and school children gathered at the Webster School in Cambridge Saturday afternoon to rededicate the century old institution to two civil rights activists, Ross L. Parks and Cambridge City Councilor Saundra Graham.

Renamed the Graham-Parks Alternative Public School in honor of the two women, the building houses an experimental education program for 350 children of all racial and economic backgrounds, and provides bilingual classes for Greeks and Haitians.

Speaking before about 300 people, Leonard Solo, the school's principal, called Graham and Parks "two strong Black women--haroines," at Saturday's dedication. "We pledge that we too will struggle long and hard after them to continue their dreams and goals," he added.

Boston mayoral candidate Mel King made a surprise visit to the dedication ceremonies and received a standing ovation. King joined school children and the assembly in singing such songs as "We Shall Overcome" and "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing."

Rosa Parks is the 70-year-old Alabama woman, whose refusal to relinquish her sent to a white man on a Montgomery has resulted in the 1956 boycott led by civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

School officials on Saturday called Rosa Parks "the mother of the civil rights movement in America."

Saundra Graham, first a city councilor in 1972, gained attention in 1970 when she interrupted a Harvard commencement ceremony, protesting the University's real estate expansion and dislocation of Cambridge residents.

Harvard eventually built housing complexes for the elderly and for families.

Graham, herself a product of the Cambridge public school system, became the first Black woman representative from Cambridge to the State House in 1976.

She co-chaired the Massachusetts Coalition for this summer's march on Washington, commemorating the 1963 civil rights protest.

Rebirth

The former Webster School, which serves a neighborhood with Haitians, Greeks, and Jamaican residents, merged with the experimental Cambridge Alternative Public School (CAPS) in 1980.

Pamela Thomure, chairman of the school's parents association, explained that CAPS was the first Cambridge school to use the developmental approach to learning--tailoring its curricula to individual children, and placing children of different ages and different learning abilities together in one classroom.

"It's the rebirth of a school, the coming together of two schools with separate identities to foam a new one," said Jennie Galloway, a former Webster teacher.

Historic Occadon

During the dedication ceremonies, Cambridge Mayor Alfred E. Vellucci gave Rosa Parks a proclamation declaring October 15 Rosa Parks Day in the city.

He added that he plans to introduce a resolution in the Cambridge City Council tonight asking Harvard to bestow an honorary degree on Parks.

"If they can take half the city of Cambridge without paying taxes, then they can give Rosa Parks an honorary diploma," he said Saturday, referring to the University's tax-exempt status.

Massachusetts Governor Michael S. Dukakis declined an invitation to come, said Thomure.